Extra Inning Madness

For the last 4 days, Major League Baseball has seen at least 2 of its teams go into extra innings each night. Only one of the 6 games went 10 innings. Included in the extra inning games are a rain delay, no-hitter, and a historic win.

Sunday
Chicago Cubs 6, Cincinnati 3 F/14
The Reds tied the game up in the 8th with their third run but it wasn't until the 14th when the next run came off the bat of Alfonso Soriano. Soriano hit a homer to give the Cubs the lead and they would tack on 2 more to get the win after going 11 innings the night before.

Arizona 9, San Diego 6, F/18
This game was all Arizona until the bottom of the 9th, when David Eckstein capped off a 5-run Padre 9th with a 3-run homer. That would be San Diego's last hit of the game. The D'Backs bullpen threw 9 no-hit innings and were finally bailed out when Mark Reynolds hit a 3-run homer off of Padre SS Josh Wilson in the 18th inning.

Monday
Atlanta 7, Pittsburgh 6, F/15
This game could have ended early in extra innings if it wasn't for poor judgement by Pittsburgh 3rd base coach, Tony Beasley who sent Craig Monroe home on a hit by Andrew McCutchen to the gap. Monroe was out by a mile, and the game continue until Atlanta C David Ross came up to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 15th and hit a ball right up the middle for a walk-off single. With this win, Atlanta manager Bobby Cox got his 2,000th win with the Braves.

Tuesday
Detroit 7, Chicago White Sox 6, F/10
This extra-inning affair only lasted 1 inning due to Tigers 1b Miguel Cabrera hitting a home-run in the top of the 10th to give the Tigers the lead and Brandon Lyon was able to close the game out in the bottom of the 10th to give the Tigers the win.

Wednesday
Philadelphia 5, NY Mets 4, F/11
The Mets yet again fell apart in the final innings of a game. The Phillies were able to score 3 in the 7th, with help from Carlos Beltran, who dropped a ball up against the wall and David Wright, who couldn't handle a slow roller, the Phils were able to get back into it. The Phils also helped themselves when Jayson Werth made a diving catch in right field to rob David Wright of a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th. Then, in the top of the 11th, Chase Utley hit his 2nd homer of the game and eventually gave the Phillies a 5-4 win.

Cincinnati 4, Washington 2 F/12
In the most bizarre scenario of all these games, the Nationals had a runner on first and one out in the bottom of the 9th when rain began to fall. 2 hours and 10 minutes later, the two teams got back on to the field and the Nationals forced extra innings. Then, in the top of the 12th, the Reds got a RBI-double from Jonny Gomes and a RBI-single from Jerry Hairston, Jr. to secure the win.

With all these great extra innings games this week so far, will more be on tap for interleague play this weekend?