River Cats win longest game in team history
The 5-hour, 4-minute game broke the team record for longest game by one minute - Sacramento played a 5-hour, 3-minute game last year in Albuquerque.
Catcher Anthony Recker opened the scoring in the second inning with his fifth homer of the season, a solo blast on the at-bat's first pitch.
Sacramento starter Yadel Marti didn't allow a hit in his first 4.0 innings, and allowed three hits in 8.0 innings total. He struck out three and allowed one walk in front of 13,039 fans, Raley Field's largest crowd of the season.
"He did great; he was awesome," said Recker, who caught all 16 innings. "He hit his spots all night."
Oklahoma tied the game in the seventh inning. Outfielder Brandon Barnes was hit-by-pitch to start the inning, and Jeff Keppinger hit a sacrifice bunt to move Barnes to second. Catcher Robinson Cancel doubled on a fly ball to left field to bring Barnes home and leave the score 1-1.
"It felt really good," Recker said of the win. "It felt really good to do it against them like that, to tie it up in the 13th and win it in the 16th was awesome."
Sacramento loaded the bases on three walks in the bottom of the eighth inning, but did not produce.
River Cats reliever Vinnie Chulk walked home a run in the top of the 13th to give Oklahoma City a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Sacramento designated hitter Josh Donaldson hit a two-out solo home run to extend the game.
"It was a changeup right down the middle," Donaldson said. "Lucky for me I saw it and was able to hit it out of the park."
Sacramento opened the bottom of the 16th with a Shane Peterson walk and a Wes Timmons sacrifice bunt. Sogard then singled on a line drive to right field to score Peterson.
The River Cats close the series against Oklahoma City on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. at Raley Field. The River Cats improved to 27-16, and remain two games ahead of Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League South Division.
"We have a really good team this year," Donaldson said. "We're going to win more than we lose."