Twins Suffer Painful Loss in 16 Inning Marathon

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bryce Harper tied it with a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning, pitcher Oliver Perez put down a bunt in the 15th that kept the game going and Chris Heisey homered in the 16th to give the Washington Nationals a wild 6-5 win over the Minnesota Twins.

At 5 hours, 56 minutes, it was the longest regular-season game in Nationals' history. By far one of the craziest, too.

Harper was supposed to have a day off, but stepped up to lead off the ninth with Washington trailing 4-3 and connected for the first pinch-hit homer of his career.

The Nationals were down 5-4 in the 15th Danny Espinosa drew a two-out walk and stole second. With no one else left to hit, Perez (1-0) batted for the first time since 2010 and bunted down the third base line. Catcher John Ryan Murphy picked up the ball but threw it wildly past first, allowing Espinosa to score.

Heisey then homered off Michael Tonkin (1-1) to complete a three-game sweep.