WASHINGTON — Brandon Belt homered off Tanner Roark in the 18th inning Saturday night, lifting the San Francisco Giants to their 10th consecutive postseason victory, edging the Washington Nationals 2-1 for a 2-0 lead in the NL division series.
It tied the mark for most innings in a postseason game and set a time record at 6 hours, 23 minutes,
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WHO: Angels at Royals
WHAT: Best-of-five NLDS
SERIES: Royals lead 2-0
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Sunday
TELEVISION: FoxSports1
Down to their final out in the ninth, the wild-card Giants tied it on Pablo Sandoval’s RBI double, then saw Nationals Manager Matt Williams and second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera ejected in the 10th.
Yusmeiro Petit entered in the 12th and threw six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven, to earn the win. Hunter Strickland got the save.
Game 3 will be Monday in San Francisco.
Belt has a unique distinction. Besides playing in the longest game in major league postseason history, he played in the longest game in NCAA tournament history.
In 2008, he was the designated hitter for Texas in a vitory against Boston College that went 25 innings.
Strickland, who pitched the final inning for San Francisco, is in his eighth professional season but never pitched above Double-A until being called up in September. He was once a Red Sox farmhand.
DODGERS 3, CARDINALS 2: Matt Kemp hit a go-ahead home run leading off the eighth inning, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Saturday night in Los Angeles and evening their NL Division Series at a game apiece.
Kemp practically skipped down the first base line, appearing to coax the ball fair as it sailed inside the foul pole and into the lower left field seats while the crowd of 54,599 erupted in cheers. Bubbles percolated into the hot night air from a machine in the dugout that the Dodgers turn on to celebrate homers.
No one looked happier greeting Kemp in the dugout than J.P. Howell, who had served up a tying, two-run homer to Matt Carpenter in the top of the inning after relieving Zack Greinke. Kemp hugged Howell after connecting off Pat Neshek.
Game 3 is Monday night in St. Louis, with John Lackey starting for the Cardinals against Hyun-Jin Ryu.
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