Ryan LaMarre started the series as Minnesota’s extra player, but got the Twins a split in extra innings, and gave Eddie Rosario a memory he’ll never forget.
Rosario scored the winning run in his homeland in the bottom of the 16th inning, coming around on LaMarre’s single that gave Minnesota a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night, and a split of the teams’ two-game series in Puerto Rico.
The game took 5 hours, 13 minutes — with the teams combining for 117 at-bats. They were a combined 0 for 21 with runners in scoring position until LaMarre ended it around 12:23 a.m.
LaMarre was brought to San Juan as the Twins’ 26th player; Major League Baseball allowed each club an extra body for the series. LaMarre didn’t even come into the game until the 10th, and was 3 for 4.
The teams were scoreless until trading solo homers in the 14th. Edwin Encarnacion got his off the left-field foul pole for Cleveland, and Miguel Sano tied it for the Twins leading off the bottom half against former Minnesota pitcher Matt Belisle.
Cleveland used 23 players, with only three starting pitchers left on the bench by game’s end. Josh Tomlin (0-2) made his first relief appearance since 2016 and took the loss though the only run he allowed was unearned.
Minnesota used eight pitchers, Alan Busenitz (1-0) the last of them. Busenitz worked the last two innings.
The game took so long that Minnesota’s Joe Mauer and Zach Duke both aged a year — they turn 35 on Thursday, which meant their birthdays started around the 16th inning.
