Former Mets pitcher Shaun Marcum has retired from baseball to take a coaching job at Northwestern Oklamhoma State University.
Marcum finishes with a 61-48 record for his nine-year major league career. As a Met in 2013, Marcum went 1-10 with a 5.29 record in 12 starts and two relief appearances.
I vividly remember one of those relief appearances, which was actually one of Marcum’s longest outings as a Met.
On June 8, 2013, the Mets scored one run against rookie Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez in the second inning when Juan Lagares doubled in Ike Davis. In the fourth, Chris Coghlan hit a sacrifice fly off of Matt Harvey to tie the game.
Fernandez and Harvey matched zeroes the rest of the way until they turned it over to their respective bullpens. Mike Redmond and Terry Collins used nearly everyone at their disposal, but the game remained tied after 12.
Because the Mets and Marlins had been rained out the night before, both managers had their Friday starters available to pitch in relief. Marcum came in to pitch the top of the 13th for the Mets, and Kevin Slowey went out to the mound for the Marlins in the bottom half of the inning.
And the game kept going. The Mets had at least one runner in scoring position in the 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th innings but couldn’t cash in.
The Marlins didn’t do much of anything against Marcum until the 20th inning, when Placido Polanco, Rob Brantley and Adeiny Hechevarria finally turned three consecutive singles into a run.
And yes, I watched all 20 innings and 6 hours, 25 minutes of baseball at Citi Field. It sure would have been a better memory if Marcum had gotten the ‘W’ that afternoon turned evening, but I will always appreciate the effort.
PaulHadsall.com 