Nationals 6, Twins 5 (16 innings)
WASHINGTON -- Chris Heisey hit a solo homer off Michael Tonkin to lead off the bottom of the 16th inning as the Washington Nationals beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Sunday.
It was Heisey's first career walk-off homer. The game lasted five hours, 56 minutes, making it the longest regular-season game in Nationals history, since 2005, in terms of time.
The Nationals tied the game in the 15th when a throwing error by the Twins catcher John Ryan Murphy on a bunt by reliever and winning pitcher Oliver Perez (1-0) allowed Danny Espinosa to score the tying run, also with two outs. The only reason Perez was batting was that the Nationals were out of position players. Washington had used a pitcher, Joe Ross, earlier in the game to pinch-hit.
Miguel Sano had a two-out RBI single in the top of the 15th to give the Twins a 5-4 lead. His hit scored Eduardo Nunez, who had singled for his fourth hit of the day and was ruled safe on a steal of second following a replay review in which he was originally called out.
Bryce Harper tied the game at 4-4 with a pinch-hit homer to lead off the last of the ninth against Twins closer Kevin Jepsen. Harper then left the game and spent part of extra innings wearing his rally cap on the Washington bench.
Brian Dozier (two hits) hit a three-run homer on a 3-2 pitch from Stephen Strasburg in the eighth to give the Twins a 4-1 lead.
Wilson Ramos had a two-run double in the last of the eighth as the Nationals trimmed the margin to 4-3. But Twins reliever Trevor May, who gave up those two runs, retired the next three batters.
Strasburg gave up seven hits and four runs with 10 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.
The Twins had tied the game at 1-1 in the third on a one-out RBI single against Strasburg by Eduardo Nunez, who ended the day with four hits.
The Nationals scored in the first inning for the third day in a row as Matt den Dekker led off with a solo homer into the Washington bullpen in right on the fifth pitch from starter Tyler Duffey. It was the first career leadoff homer for den Dekker, who got the start as Harper had the day off -- as a starter at least.
In the fifth den Dekker hit a liner off the upper right shoulder of Duffey, a right-hander. It was an infield single for den Dekker and Duffey left the game as Casey Fien came on to pitch for the Twins.
Duffey went four innings plus one batter and allowed one run and five hits while throwing 74 pitches. He was taken out for precautionary reasons with a right arm contusion.
Michael A. Taylor, batting .161 at game time, had two infield singles for the Nationals and Daniel Murphy, den Dekker and Jayson Werth also had two hits for Washington. The Nationals are 14-4 while the Twins fell to 5-14.
NOTES: Twins 1B Joe Maurer entered Sunday as the American League leader in on-base average at .450. He got the day off as Byung Ho Park got the start at first base. ... The Nationals entered Sunday with a record of 7-1 at home while the Twins were 1-9 on the road -- the worst mark in the majors. ... Washington begins a series at home Tuesday with the Philadelphia Phillies while the Twins host the Cleveland Indians on Monday. Former Nationals LHP Tommy Milone (0-1, 5.87 ERA) goes against Cleveland RHP Danny Salazar (2-1, 1.47 ERA). ... Nationals 2B Daniel Murphy, who got the day off Saturday, was back in the starting lineup Sunday carrying a league-high batting average of .411 and a day batting mark of .450. ... Twins INF Jorge Polanco was sent to Triple-A Rochester to make room for RHP Tyler Duffey, who made the start for Minnesota. He got the start in place of RHP Ervin Santana, who was scratched due to a sore lower back. ... Washington RF Bryce Harper got the day off Sunday, as Matt den Dekker made the start in right field. Manager Dusty Baker has been trying to get days off for his starters as the Nationals ended a stretch of 15 games in 15 days on Sunday.