Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt, Colby Rasmus produce baseball's longest day

With three swings of their bats, Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt and Colby Rasmus wrecked the best-laid plans of a half-dozen pitching staffs, provided hours of free baseball to fans and, in Harper’s case, produced a victory for his respective team.

They also made major league history.

According to Baseball-Reference, Sunday’s set of 15 games were the longest, by average, for any day with at least 10 games. The average of 213.3 minutes – that’s 3 hours, 33 minutes, 20 seconds if you don’t have an abacus handy – trumped July 22, 2014 (212.3 minutes) as the longest day ever.

It could have been so much shorter.

But Harper, supposedly getting the day off Sunday, decided to tie the Washington Nationals’ game against Minnesota with a pinch-hit, ninth-inning home run. They’d go on to beat the Twins 6-5 in 16 innings in what Nationals manager Dusty Baker called the "craziest game I've ever managed." (He's managed 3,194 of them).

Goldschmidt hit a one-out, two-run home run off Pittsburgh closer Mark Melancon to tie their game in Arizona at 8-8. The goofiness in the desert was just beginning, as the Pirates surged ahead with two in the 12th inning – only to have the Diamondbacks match them in the bottom half. Finally, the Pirates plated a pair of runs in the 13th – the final coming, oddly enough, on a pinch-hit RBI single from pitcher Jonathan Niese – to prevail 12-10.

This longest day refused to end, however, as the night game was extended by Houston’s Rasmus, who clubbed a two-out, two-run home run off Boston closer Craig Kimbrel to force extra innings in Houston. Like Goldschmidt, however, Rasmus’ clutch longball went for naught as the Red Sox scored two in the 12th to win, 7-5.

So, what was the damage done by these heroics?

Well, consider what the clubs involved had to absorb thanks to all the Sunday OT:

• 26 ½ extra innings of pitching (plus one batter for Minnesota’s Michael Tonkin, who gave up a leadoff, walk-off home run to Washington’s Chris Heisey to end that one in a hurry).
• 463 extra pitches. Nationals reliever Yusmeiro Petit threw the most - 77 - while Red Sox right-hander Heath Hembree’s 49 pitches were perhaps the most gallant. He shut out the Astros over three innings, giving up just two hits as the Red Sox finally surged ahead. In essence, he got the win and the save, and Boston manager John Farrell said the club likely won't need to make a roster move to revitalize their bullpen.
• At least one veteran unjustly sent to the minor leagues. Astros manager A.J. Hinch said outfielder Jake Marisnick will be optioned to Class AAA, so the club can summon reliever Michael Feliz to galvanize their exhausted pitching staff.

And who was the biggest winner Sunday?

Clearly, the Nationals. They won the game in walk-off fashion and are the only team among the six to receive a most-deserved reward Monday.

A day off.