MIAMI, April 27 (UPI) -- Fernando Vina singled in Edgar Renteria with two outs in the top of the 20th inning Sunday, giving the St. Louis Cardinals a 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins.
It was the majors longest game in a decade.
Hitless in his first nine at-bats, Vina lined a 1-0 pitch from Carl Pavano (2-3) into right field to score Renteria, who singled with one out and raced to third on a two-hit base hit by Mike Matheny.
After stranding runners in scoring position four times in extra innings, the Cardinals finally made a winner of Steve Kline (1-3). St. Louis' seventh pitcher struck out two in three perfect innings.
It was baseball's first 20-inning game since a 22-inning marathon between the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins on Aug. 31, 1993. At 6 hours, 7 minutes, it was the longest in terms of time since the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers needed played 6:35 to play a game on Aug. 25, 2001.
