Diamondbacks-Cardinals Marathon: By The Numbers

1: Relievers not used by the Diamondbacks

No prizes for guessing who that was, but not surprising, given his career 11.17 ERA versus the Cardinals, and the meltdown last night which provoked suggestions Heath Bell was tipping his pitches. Bell did warm up on a couple of occasions, but one wonders whether Kirk Gibson would have gone to him in the event of the 17th, or skipped him and used a position player - Martin Prado was mentioned. Best for Bell's morale that the question wasn't answered.

3

Hits by Paul Goldschmidt, before the end of the fifth inning.
Also, hits by Cliff Pennington, after the middle of the twelfth inning.
Goldschmidt went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts after the fifth; Pennington was hitless in his first five trips to the plate.

4: Number of comebacks by Arizona

The Cardinals led 4-1, before the Diamondbacks clawed their way back. The visitors also led 7-5, 8-7 and 9-8, but were not able to hold on to any of those leads. This certainly felt a lot more like the 2011 edition of the team, which had nine walkoff wins, than last year's version, who managed the feat only twice. Said Brandon McCarthy, "If it helps a team create an identity and a belief, then it’s a good thing. Whether or not it actually has any effect, I don’t know. But I think it just at least puts the thought of belief into everybody’s head."

5-0: Our record at Chase, when games go long

18.6: Pitches seen by D-backs hitters per inning

While there have been longer games by innings - this one was only tied for fifth - the "Diamondbacks way" of grinding out at-bats and making the other team work, was in full effect. Even later on, they seemed to take their time: going down in order in the 13th and 15th innings, each still required the opposing pitcher to throw 15 pitches. No other game in team history that reached 14 frames, saw them reach 18 pitches per inning.

21: Players used by the Diamondbacks

Everyone on the roster except for Wade Miley, Trevor Cahill, Patrick Corbin and, of course, Bell. Excluding games with expanded rosters in September, the last time we used more in that was August 25, 2006, a 15-inning victory over the Dodgers, on an Orlando Hudson walk-off. That game also featured Livan Hernandez being used as a pinch-hitter, with the bases loaded. He struck out.

27.6%: Win Probability added by Matt Reynolds

By that stat, he was our best pitcher, throwing two perfect innings, to add to the one thrown in Tuesday's game, and send Reynolds to 9-of-9 in batters retired. True, he did face mostly left-handed batters last night, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was holding his breath when he was left in to face Matt Holiday. Though actually, over his career, Holliday has reverse splits, hitting right-handers better than southpaws.

77: Pitches by Josh Collmenter

That smashed the record for a Diamondback who had pitched the previous day: it had been 63, by Miguel Batista in another marathon game, the 18-inning victory over the Giants in May 2001 that, at 5:53, still stands as the longest in team history. Both men worked five innings and got the win in their outings: hopefully, it's an omen, because we know how 2001 ended... From what I can see, only one other NL pitcher since 2000 has thrown as many pitches, after throwing 20+ the day before: Daniel McCutchen of the Pirates, threw 22 on July 25, 2011, then 92 the next night.

118-1: Our record when scoring 9+ runs, since May 17, 2006

Yeah, we should have known, as soon as that ninth man crossed the plate, that this was in the bag. We could just have kicked back, relaxed and waited for the inevitable victory. The only such defeat, in close to seven years, came last year, when Seattle beat us, 12-9. In case you're wondering, the Cardinals now have seven such losses over the same time-frame.