Marlins’ 5-4 Victory Is One for the Ages

In their first major league game, pitchers Jason Grilli and Joe Strong got to see a triple play.

That’s not what they’ll remember most.

Grilli earned the victory and Strong earned plaudits for perseverance as the Florida Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4, Thursday at Miami.

Strong, 37, became the oldest player to make his major-league debut in nearly 40 years when he took the mound in the seventh. He pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings.

Grilli, 23, pitched 6 2/3 innings. He also singled on the first pitch in his first at-bat, then earned his first run batted in on a fourth-inning groundout.

“I haven’t slept a wink,” said Strong, who arrived on a red-eye flight after being recalled from triple-A Calgary. “The way things went tonight, I’ll probably never sleep again.”

Because of the two rookies, the Braves’ first triple play in nearly 14 years became a footnote. They went around the horn on Mike Lowell’s grounder to third in the fifth inning.

When Strong entered the game, he became the oldest player to make his big-league debut since pitcher Diomedes Olivo on Sept. 5, 1960, for the Pittsburgh Pirates at age 41.

“I was so happy when he took the mound, I almost started tearing up out there,” Florida’s Preston Wilson said. “That’s just perseverance.”

New York 3, Pittsburgh 2--The New York Mets remained unbeaten with Al Leiter on the mound, getting an eight-hitter from the left-hander and a solo homer and two RBIs from Todd Zeile at Pittsburgh.

Leiter (4-0) struck out eight as the Mets improved to 7-0 in his starts. Leiter is 3-1 with a 1.20 earned-run average lifetime against the Pirates.

Philadelphia 6, Montreal 4--Third baseman Michael Barrett’s error with two out in the seventh allowed the go-ahead run to score at Montreal.

Randy Wolf (2-2) gave up four runs--three earned--and seven hits in six innings as the Phillies won for the sixth time in eight games.

Milwaukee 14, Chicago 8--Mark Loretta went five for five and Jeromy Burnitz had three RBIs at Chicago as the Brewers won the longest nine-inning game in National League history.

The 4-hour, 22-minute game featured 35 hits and 19 walks as the teams tied the major league record for a nine-inning game set by Baltimore and the Yankees in a 13-9 game on Sept. 5, 1997.

The longest previous NL game took 4 hours, 20 minutes, between the Dodgers and Colorado on June 30, 1996.

David Weathers, the 10th pitcher, struck out Sammy Sosa with the bases loaded on the 427th pitch of the game to finish it.

Cincinnati 11, San Diego 9--The slumping Padres blew two leads at Cincinnati and wound up losing their sixth consecutive game.

Aaron Boone’s two-run homer with one out in the ninth off Matt Whisenant (2-2) finished off a deflating day for the Padres, who came away with only their third 0-6 road trip in the franchise’s 32-year history.

San Diego suffered a more serious setback in the eighth. Reliever Rodney Myers awkwardly twisted his left knee while fielding Pokey Reese’s bunt.

Myers crumpled to the artificial turf and rolled around in pain. He was taken off the field on a cart.