By Mark Carlisle Independent Newsmedia

PHOENIX — It was a long time coming. After 15 innings and five hours and 45 minutes, the Diamondbacks won the longest game in Chase Field history early Tuesday morning, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7 on a pinch-hit, walk-off RBI single by Jeff Mathis in the bottom of the 15th. The game ended at 12:45 a.m. Mathis was hitting for the last reliever in the bullpen, Fernando Salas. If he hadn't ended the game in the 15th, he would have pitched in the 16th. "He definitely didn’t want to pitch. He came in (to the clubhouse) and had the look in his face, he didn’t want to hit,” said D-backs starting pitcher Taijuan Walker with a laugh. “And so I said, ‘Hey, you don’t want to pitch, you better hit.’” Mathis was one of two players left on the bench, next to fellow catcher John Ryan Murphy. Manager Torey Lovullo said he talked to both catchers, who were honest with him. Murphy said he couldn't do it, but Mathis said he could. He'd done it before. Mathis pitched an inning twice in 2012 with the Blue Jays. Lovullo was his first base coach. Both outings were when Toronto was trailing by 13 or more. The first was a scoreless outing. In the second, he allowed two runs. "I wasn’t scared, but I wasn’t super excited about it," Mathis said about the prospect of pitching the 16th. "I’ve got a couple of innings under my belt, but they didn’t go real well." Instead, all Mathis needed was his bat, knocking a one-out liner to left-center off of Dodgers reliever Wilmer Font for the walk-off win. Diamondbacks' Nick Ahmed scored the winning run on Jeff Mathis' walk-off RBI single against the Los Angeles Dodger during the 15th inning of a baseball game that stretched into the early morning Tuesday in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks won 8-7. [AP Photo/Matt York][/caption]"He threw me the first (curveball) for a strike and I saw it pretty good, and he ended up leaving the next one up and was able to get some barrel on it." For a moment, it looked like the D-backs were going to come out of the historically long game empty-handed. Chase Utley hit an RBI single in the top of the 15th to put the Dodgers up 7-6. In the bottom of inning, Jake Lamb started the rally with a one-out single. Nick Ahmed followed with a double to drive in Lamb to tie the game and was later driven home by Mathis. The 15th wasn't the only come back of the long night. The D-backs erased two three-run Dodger leads during the first nine innings. The first came from chipping away after LA went up 3-0 in the first. The next came all at once. Chris Owings' launched a heroic, three-run homer to left to tie the game at six in the bottom of the ninth off of the Dodgers' normally shut-down closer Kenley Jansen. The climactic moment was followed by a long lull as each team went scoreless for five innings, until bats lit up again in the 15th. The five-hour and 45-minute game surpassed the previous longest game in the stadium's 20-year history of five hours and 32 minutes, which had happened twice, once in 2013 and once in 2015. Diamondbacks’ Chris Owings (16) connects for a game-tying, 3-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Monday in Phoenix. [AP Photo/Matt York][/caption]

"It was a really, really satisfying night to come out ahead the (way) we did," Lovullo said. "(It) spoke volumes about the character of this team. I’ve talked about it now for over a year. This team doesn’t shut down. They fight, they claw, they believe. When you’re tired, fatigued, there were positive comments consistently coming out of the dugout. I’m really proud of these guys tonight."

The Dodgers' roster was more depleted than the Diamondbacks', having reached the end of the bullpen and the end of the bench in the 11th inning. Font threw four scoreless innings before allowing two runs in the 15th. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, had the game stretched into the 16th, he also would have sent a position player, outfielder Joc Pederson, to the mound to pitch. With an empty bench, Font or one of the four starting pitchers unused Monday would have had to play the field. Mathis, who typically uses a catcher's mitt behind the plate, said he does have a glove in his locker, but probably would have borrowed a teammates glove had he taken the mound. Walker allowed three earned runs in five innings, on two walks and eight hits, including a first-inning home run from Yasmani Grandal. Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu had three earned in 3 2/3 innings on five hits and five walks. Salas earned the win, and Font got the loss, the first of the year for both.

Trainer's room

Lamb came up favoring his shoulder after making a diving catch in the ninth. He later slid head-first into home to score the tying run in the 15th. Lovullo said Lamb was OK but having discomfort. He was being evaluated by staff after the game.

Up next

Tuesday night, the D-backs face three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw (0-1, 1.50 ERA). Zack Godley will make his first start for the D-backs. The game is a 6:40 p.m. start.

99 vs. 99

Monday’s game was historic for another reason, not because of the number of innings, but because of jersey numbers. Both starting pitchers, Walker and Ryu, wear No. 99, marking the first time in major league history that two starting pitchers wearing No. 99 faced each other, according to Baseball-Reference. The only pitcher beside Ryu and Walker to make a start wearing No. 99 was Mesa native Rudy Owens, who has one career MLB start, for the Astros in 2014. Owens went to Mesa High School and Chandler-Gilbert Community College.