Marathon game crawls way into record book

Fort Myers’ 20-inning loss to Clearwater ended Friday morning

By David Dorsey
Fort Myers News

The Fort Myers Miracle played a marathon-like game Thursday night and into the earliest minutes of this morning, setting a franchise record for most innings in a game.

In the 20th inning, the Miracle finally fell to the Clearwater Threshers 4-3.

The game took five hours and two minutes to complete, ending at 12:07 a.m.

The 20 innings fell two innings short of the Miracle’s parent club record.

The Minnesota Twins played 22 innings twice and also have matched the 20 innings once.

The Miracle and Threshers will play again at 7:05 tonight at Hammond Stadium.

Twins big leaguer Ruben Sierra, who went 1-for-4 on Thursday, again will suit up for the Miracle in a rehabilitation start in right field.

Clearwater Threshers third baseman Mike Costanzo, who was 0-for-8 entering the top of the 20th, hit an RBI single. The Miracle then went three up and three down, ending the game.

The Threshers used eight pitchers and combined to hit 7-for-63 at the plate (a .111 batting average).

The Miracle used six pitchers and combined to hit 12-of-67 (.179). Designated hitter Garrett Guzman had the biggest 0-for, going 0-for-8 at the plate.