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Mike Francesa: "All right, this is why you love October baseball."
"Game 1 of the 1910 Pro Cup."
"Hartford. Midway."
"First appearance for both franchises."
"And they play... nineteen innings."
"I mean, what more could you ask for?"
Mad Dog Russo: "NINETEEN INNINGS!"
"I was exhausted just readin' the box score!"
"These poor guys played TWO GAMES!"
"A Classic From Pitch One"
Mike:
"This wasn't sloppy."
"This wasn't bad baseball."
"This was terrific pitching."
"Hartford scratches one across in the second."
"Midway doesn't score until the seventh."
"Hartford ties it in the eighth."
"And then...
nobody scores...
for ELEVEN MORE INNINGS."
Fareed Tareen Was Incredible
Mike:
"I've got to start with Hartford's starter."
"Fareed Tareen."
11 innings.
9 hits
2 runs
164 pitches
"He deserved a better fate."
"He kept Midway quiet almost all afternoon."
Dog:
"One hundred sixty-four pitches!"
"In today's baseball they'd send an ambulance to the mound after 110!"
"He emptied the tank!"
Xing-peng Shan Matched Him
Mike:
"And don't overlook Midway's starter."
"Xing-peng Shan."
Seven innings.
One run.
Seven strikeouts.
"He set the tone."
"The bullpen simply carried it from there."
Midway's Bullpen Wins the Game
Mike:
"This is really where Midway won."
After Shan left:
Amal Kenyatta
Dean Lowe
Maksimillian Naidenko
Mellal Sau
Combined:
12 innings
7 hits
No earned runs
"That's championship pitching."
Dog:
"They used FIVE pitchers!"
"They were pullin' guys outta the bullpen every couple innings!"
"And every single one got OUTS!"
Hartford Left the Door Open
Mike:
"Here's the story."
"Hartford had chance...
after chance...
after chance."
19 hits?
"No."
13 hits.
Five walks.
Multiple innings with runners in scoring position.
Nothing.
Dog:
"Nineteen men left on base!"
"Tung Lang by himself left TEN!"
"You can't do that in October!"
The Turning Point Nobody Will Forget
Mike:
"I thought Hartford had it in the eighteenth."
"Abhiraja Virasana leads off with a triple."
"Nobody out."
"They don't score."
"That's the game."
Dog:
"THAT'S IT!"
"I wrote in my scorebook—"
"'Hartford's gonna regret this.'"
"Leadoff triple...
NOBODY OUT...
and they don't score!"
"You NEVER survive that!"
The 19th
Mike:
"Bottom of the nineteenth."
"Bhutani singles."
"Gets thrown out stealing."
"So Hartford catches a break."
"Then Mellal Sau walks."
"Steals second."
"Sodhani singles."
"Sau to third."
"Sodhani steals second."
"And then..."
"Ziyad Rashid."
"Deep fly ball."
"Ballgame."
The Hero
Dog:
"Ziyad Rashid!"
"He drives in TWO runs during the comeback in the seventh..."
"Then wins it in the nineteenth."
"Three RBIs."
"He was EVERYWHERE."
Mike:
"He doesn't have the walk-off hit."
"He gets the sacrifice fly."
"But that's baseball."
"Sometimes the biggest swing is simply putting the ball in play."
Hartford's Missed Opportunities
Mike:
"I counted several innings where Hartford looked ready to break through."
13th
15th
17th
18th
"They kept putting runners aboard."
"They simply couldn't get the big hit."
Dog:
"They were ONE HIT away for SIX HOURS!"
"Every inning..."
"'Here they go!'"
"Nope."
"'Now they're gonna score!'"
"Nope."
"It was unbelievable!"
Midway Finally Wins a Pro Cup Game
Mike:
"Think about the history."
"Midway waited forty years just to reach the Pro Cup."
"They don't ease into it."
"They win the longest game in franchise history."
"And now...
they lead the series."
Hartford Isn't Done
Mike:
"If you're Hartford, you actually leave encouraged."
"You went into Midway."
"You matched the Wolves pitch for pitch."
"You lost because one fly ball finally found enough depth."
"This series isn't over."
Mad Dog's Final Thought
Dog:
"Mikey...
if Game ONE goes NINETEEN INNINGS..."
"...what are the next six games gonna look like?"
"We got two clubs chasing their FIRST championship."
"They're both nervous."
"They're both talented."
"And nobody blinked for nineteen innings!"
"This has the feel of one of those legendary Pro Cups people are STILL gonna be talkin' about fifty years from now."
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