Saturday, August 21, 1999
Astros 6, Marlins 4, 16 innings
BY STEVEN WINE
AP Sports Writer
MIAMI — The Houston Astros struck out 21 times, stranded 20 runners, blew a four-run lead and still won.
Ken Caminiti hit his second home run of the night leading off the 16th inning, and Houston regained first place in the NL Central by beating the Florida Marlins 6-4 Friday night.
Seven Marlins pitchers walked 17 Astros, a team record for both clubs. Houston's strikeout total broke the team record of 20 set against Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs last year.
Jeff Bagwell went 0-for-2 and walked six times to tie the major league record. Craig Biggio struck out four times for the Astros, who managed just seven hits and had none in extra innings until Caminiti homered off Jesus Sanchez (4-6).
Trever Miller (2-2) pitched three scoreless innings, and Billy Wagner got three outs for his 31st save, a career best. Houston, which also got a sacrifice fly from Tim Bogar in the 16th, moved one game ahead of Cincinnati in the NL Central.
Marlins pitcher Alex Fernandez had a chance to win the game as a pinch hitter in the 11th, but he flied out to the warning track with the bases loaded to end the inning.
The game matched the longest by innings in the major leagues this season, Arizona's 7-6 win over Los Angeles on April 13. It took 5 hours, 44 minutes, the longest by time in Marlins' history.
Caminiti hit a two-out, two-run homer in the third. The homer was his third of the season, and his first since returning from the disabled list Monday after missing 79 games with a calf injury.
He homered from both sides of the plate for the 10th time, extending his NL record.
Carl Everett led off the second with his 18th homer for Houston. Astros starter Shane Reynolds allowed three runs — two earned — in 6 2-3 innings.
Marlins starter Ryan Dempster threw 95 pitches in 3 1-3 innings. He struck out eight but walked seven, threw two wild pitches and gave up two homers.
Dempster departed after a single and two walks loaded the bases in the fourth. Brian Edmondson came on and walked Everett to force in a run and make the score 4-0.
Luis Castillo tripled and scored Florida's first run in the fifth on Alex Gonzalez's RBI grounder. Preston Wilson walked in the sixth, took third on Mike Lowell's single and scored when right fielder Everett made a throwing error on the play.
Pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay led off the seventh with a single and scored on Kevin Millar's two-out single. Wilson was hit by a pitch to start the eighth and scored the tying run on pinch-hitter Danny Bautista's double.
NOTES: Fernandez will start Sunday after receiving a cortisone shot in his sore shoulder and missing one start. ... Bagwell has 849 career walks, breaking the Astros career mark of 847 set by Jimmy Wynn. ... Bagwell's six walks matched the major league record set by Jimmy Foxx of Boston on June 16, 1938 and tied by Andre Thornton of Cleveland on May 2, 1984. Vince Coleman of the New York Mets set the NL record of five walks on Aug. 10, 1992. ... The Marlins' previous record of 16 strikeouts was achieved twice. They gave up 12 walks Aug. 12, 1993 against Philadelphia.
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