On this date: May 8, 2001
The Diamondbacks beat the Reds 4-3 in 11 innings. Box score HERE.
But the story was Hall-of-Fame LHP Randy Johnson who struck out 20 Reds.
The 37-year old Johnson became the first LHP to strike out 20. But he did not join Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood in the record books with 20 K's, because their performances came in nine inning games.
The major-league record for an extra-inning game is 21, by Tom Cheney for Washington against Baltimore in a 16-inning game on Sept. 12, 1962.
Johnson threw 124 pitches, 92 for strikes, and walked none before Byung-Hyun Kim relieved to start the 10th.
Johnson struck out the side in the fourth, seventh and eighth innings, and fanned two batters in the first, second, third, fifth and ninth. He struck out only one in the sixth.
He had 18 strikeouts in the first eight innings, then struck out pinch-hitter Deion Sanders on three pitches leading off the ninth.
Johnson, who struck out nine of his first 12 batters and eight of his last nine, allowed three hits.
He had a perfect game going until Boone singled with one out in the fifth.
2 strikeouts: Donnie Sadler, Juan Castro, Ruben Rivera, Pokey Reese, Kelly Stinnett, Chris Reitsma.
3 strikeouts: Barry Larkin, Alex Ochoa.
Manager Bob Boone sat his LH bats: Sean Casey, Todd Walker, Dmitri Young, Ken Griffey Jr and Michael Tucker.
The Reds struck out a total of 21 times in the game, managing just three hits.
Reitsma pitched seven innings of one run baseball for the Reds.
Rivera drove in Boone in the 5th inning to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.
The Diamondbacks tied the game in the bottom of the 5th and the game went to the 11th.
The Reds scored two runs in the top of the 11th when Ochoa drove in two runs on a deep sacrifice fly to center field.
But the Diamondbacks won it with three runs in the bottom of the 11th. Danny Graves walked Matt Williams with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning.