| Joe Gutierrez. 26th April, 2006 - 4:12 am
 The Dodger bullpen could only go so long after Brad Penny was taken out in the seventh. Four hours and forty-eight minutes later, the Houston Astros were able to edge the Dodgers in the bottom of the fourteenth, and close out the longest recorded game in Minute Maid Park.
It all started in the first on an error by C Dioner Navarro which allowed 2B Craig Biggio to score the first run of the game. With Willy Taveras on third, LF Preston Wilson would then single to score the center fielder.
LA couldn’t put a run on the board through the first four innings until the fifth. The Dodger hitter of the night, CF Kenny Lofton doubled to right field, easily scoring SS Rafael Furcal. Lofton ended up with four hits out of six at-bats. 2B Jeff Kent then singled to score Lofton to tie the game at two.
Penny was brilliant after the first inning, but a run by Houston in the seventh on a wild pitch, scored Wilson to give the Astros another one-run lead. The young Fernando Nieve gave up only two runs to Los Angeles before being yanked in the fourth. He would give way to Russ Springer, who would be one of seven relievers used in the game.
The Dodgers battled back to tie the game in the ninth on Kent’s sacrifice fly to right that scored pinch runner Jason Repko. Grady Little used all of his relievers but Danys Baez. The bullpen did their job, but Lance Carter found a confidence builder in the twelfth, when he got out of a bases loaded jam.
The ‘pen finally gave way in the fourteenth as Wilson drove in the go-ahead run on a sac fly to score Taveras. All bench players from both teams were used as well as appearances from Brett Tomko, Odalis Perez and Roy Oswalt to pinch hit for their clubs.
Final Score: Dodgers 3, Astros 4
Coming Up
A distraught Dodgers squad will look to take two from the Astros when they send Odalis Perez to take on Wandy Rodriguez
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