Youre not trying to salvage like the pirates are. So you have the upper hand. Youre the home team, youre seven games up. Bob there he goes. I dont think he got a great jump but the throw goes into center. Not far away enough. Kratz bouncing to throw. I saw a lot of dirt coming up when trea first left the bag at first but hes got unbelievable makeup speed. F. P. just go. You get thrown out . Who cares. Youre playing with house money. You have a big game, a big lead and youve won the first two of the set. Now, the stage is set for jayson werth to get mobbed. Bob now the outfield comes in a bit. And turner can get at second. Harrison is going to keep him as close as he can. The count is 10. Werth takes it upstairs, ball 2. Nicasio swing and a miss stuff here. In the 14th inning. F. P. real important for trea turner to get a big primary lead and a big secondary lead with the pirates outfield cheating they all can throw. Bob winning run at 2nd base, two outs. Werth has had some long at bats today. He has spoiled a lot of twostrike pitches. Up and away, ball 2. Harper on deck. If he loses werth. Evidently it was 22. This is a big pitch. Blinding speed at second is turner. After stealing. Harper on deck. The very selective jayson werth at the plate. F. P. pretty funny sight at the end of the nats bench is the whole bull pen. Theyre doing that threefinger big hit sign. The bull pen is now on the bench. Bob all the righthanders have been in the ball game. Trea turners got to be ready. If theres a onehopper at an outfielder. Harrison at the edge of the grass behind him. So is mercer. So he can get a huge secondary lead here. And werth will pop it right. Phrase year dealing frazier dealing with the son. This ball game is going to the 15th inning. The nats have one hit in extra 14 whos going to blink first . This one going to the 15th inning. 912 for the pirates. Which would be and frazier. Felipe rivero last inning, 12 pitches, eight strikes in a 123 14th. This thing goes for another couple of innings, it will be interesting to see what happens from the pitching standpoint. The nats still have oliver perez, sammy solis. The pirates have Jonathan Niese but were not sure hes available. F. P. i think another few innings, the kids are going to run the bases. Bob and the pirates dads weekend here turning into grand dads weekend. Kind of a cool thing, over 20 of their players have their dads with them here. Sean rodriguez, 02, hit by a pitch a long time ago. Hes 11 career against Felipe Rivero. Bit with 88 and it 11. Bob target in. Didnt hit that spot. But with 98, sometimes it doesnt matter. F. P. fresh felipe, throwing cheese. Bob i like fresh felipe as opposed to everyday felipe. F. P. not easy going out there throwing 100 every day. Bob and rodriguez a short swing to stay alive. F. P. you can understand why hes used so much. If you guy for Jonathan Papelbon for a while. A lot of close games, a lot of pitchers going 67 and leaving that 8th or 9th. Bob thats a breaking ball. That stage of the season, it was still a manager and a bull pen getting used to each other. How is he going to use us . Dusty is okay, what guy do i slide inis baed on matchups slide in based on matchups . Theres a lot of stability in that bull pen lately. Swing and a miss. Couple of changeups in that a. B. And Felipe Rivero has retired four in a row. F. P. Sean Rodriguez came in the game in the 7th and hes four at bats. Its hard to pick up the changeups with the shadows right now. Bob batting eye is out there in the sunlight. Infield shaded. Heres jungho kang, base hit last time. The pirates only hit since the 10th inning. F. P. both teams earning their day off tomorrow. Bob concerned before the game about the weather yesterday, they might have to play in monday. Got that game in last night. Little did we know, were at a game and a half right now for sunday. But were getting to the stage where teams start running out of pitchers and thats when games like this normally get decided. 31 pitch. Jungho kang all over that heater. Bob in the air to right. Bryce harper. For the pirates in this inning, its up to adam frazier, whos been on four times in six plate appearances today. Reached on a fielders choice three innings ago and wilson ramos gunned him out trying to steal with Andrew Mccutchen in the batters box. F. P. he and chad kuhl are the players of the game for the pirates and. Bob left side, danny espinosa. Felipe rivero, six in a row to the bryce harper, and then bob bag of popcorn since the 9th inning. F. P. you and i are on two. Bob popcorn is keeping us alive here. F. P. tastes like filet mignon. F. P. if youre at a restaurant, watin the maitre d over and change seats. Bob theres a big time buffalo rally cap. The nats still keep the hot dog stands open at this stage of the game. You can get a dog, you can get a soft drink, you can get water. They do provide for the fans that have been holder for, well, almost five hours. Bryce harper has never faced juan nicasio. 90, a swing and miss and as f. P. Noted a couple times, time of day where its hard to see the ball at 6 16 local time. F. P. you got to show me the rally grand pooh ba again. Bob he cant wait for the ondeck hitter. F. P. there he is, the grand i want one of those. Bob wow. 11 to harper. Bryce still looking for the 20th home run. Up and away. F. P. still looking for i dont know what. Hes got double cups, rally binoculars, hat on sideways. Bob harpers last homer at new york 10 days ago against bartolo colsn. Bob harper on base twice today. 34 of his last 36 games. About eight feet the other way and thats a double. F. P. maybe. Marti is playing that way. Bob 22 pitch. 32. F. P. bryce looks like hes standing more upright to me this at bat. Bob maybe trying to get over the top of the ball . F. P. he looks more comfortable, if thats worth anything. Hes standing upright, loo maybe his legs are tired after playing 15 innings of right field. Bob other than one pitch, everything elevated here by nicasio. Here comes a 32. Harper broken bat, right side. In right field for harrison, one out. Wilson ramos and Clint Robinson now, the next two. Ramos faces nicasio for the first time. Bob wilson today, 04, base on balls. And now 05. Two outs in the 15th. Clint robinson the first man nicasio faced, two innings ago, a ground ball to first. Bob weve played a lot of long games, several this year, 16inning affair with the twins but its hard for me to remember a game that so few scoring chances for either team. 21. F. P. my theory on why games go longer now is every bull pen has guys that throw 100 and every hitter wants to be the guy on the highlights with the walkoff homer or the gamewinner if youre on the road. Bob robinson out of play. The other way. 22. F. P. you dont see a lot of manufactured runs nowadays in extra innings because of all the exposure players get. And its a great thing theyre all over everything with the highlights but everybody wants to be that guy, and you cant blame them. Bob nationals have beaten the pirates nine straight times in this ballpark. Trying to go a long way to do it again. Up and away, the count is full to Clint Robinson. F. P. pretty good rip. Bob harrison in the shift, up the middle, the shortstop mercer. And Clint Robinson will pop it up. Long way to come for jungho kang, which is actually a foul ball by the time he catches it. This one is going to the 16th you may wonder how we pack all that great taste into just 96 calories. Well, thats a mystery you dont need to solve. You just get to enjoy. Spelled different because its brewed different. Bob to the 16th innings and weve been here before a couple of times in the history of the nats. So lets talk 16inning affairs. The longest ever for a ball club. Expos went 22 innings back in 89. Hard to even think about that right now. But we are three innings away from completing a double header here. So Felipe Rivero in the top of the 16th ill face Andrew Mccutchen. Starling marti and then the pitchers spot. And Jonathan Niese, their final reliever is up in the left field bull pen. Mccutchen, 06. Keeps on getting chances to extend that hitting streak of felipe. Rivero, by the way, two innings, 25 pitches, 17 strikes, six in a row retired. Couple of strikeouts. Theres the lefthander, niese. Who threw 25 pitches in two relief appearances last night. F. P. this game is going to be decided when the shadows are done. Its getting close right now. Bob going to see one and hit one . F. P. youre starting to get to the 7 05 start time. Its 6 30 right now. As soon as it gets dark behind felipe, youll see it all the way. Probably Getting Better at the moment. Bob mccutchen with a high fly ball. Heading for the upper deck. In this mccutchen, 314. Bob rivero goes offspeed down and away. 31. The nats have walked two batters today, one intentional. Mccutchen to center. Michael a. Taylor, one out. Next up is starling marti. 25, that was an intentional walk back in the 10th by shawn kelley. Kelley. F. P. this is a guy you have to keep off base no matter what. He is not afraid to run. Bob that is slicing out of play. Bob felipe has featured some great secondary pitches. F. P. changeup 89, bottom drops out at the end. Starling at 99, 10 miles an hour slower. Bob a 12 pitch with one out. That had to be swung at. That was a hook coming in from the outside. F. P. the longer you go in these games, the tougher it is to focus. Bob swing and a miss and rivero continues to dominate. Thats his third strikeout. Hes retired eight batters in the row. F. P. only reason youre not seeing any hitting recently is because of the shadows. Youll find a way to get motivated for an at bat in a 16inning game but your mind will wander. Both staffs have been throwing strikes today. Its hard to concentrate doing anything for five hours. Bob here is their backup catcher, eric fryer. I guess the good news for the nats is juan nicasio is out of the game. Hes been dominant for three innings