Bud Black had expended every one of his bench players when he asked left-hander Glendon Rusch to start the 20th inning on this date — April 17 — in 2008. The Padres manager had also used five other relievers that night and even asked one of his starting pitchers, Randy Wolf, to grab a bat at one point.
In other words, plenty of Rusch’s teammates had plenty of time for “rally beers” in the clubhouse by the time he took the mound. One of the outdoors aficionados, Rusch recalled, appeared to be wearing something with antlers — maybe a deer’s head — as he prepared for his turn in the never-ending game against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park.