On May 15th, 1918, Walter Johnson, arguably the greatest Starting Pitcher in baseball history, pitched the longest Complete Game Shutout in baseball history.  

The game occurred at the old Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C., where the Senators took on the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox sent Claude “Lefty” Williams to the mound. After nine innings, both teams failed to score a run, requiring extra innings. It took 18 innings to decide a victor for this game, and both Walter Johnson and Lefty Williams went the entire game respectfully. In the bottom of the 18th inning, Johnson came up to bat and singled off Williams sending Eddie Ainsworth to third base. Then Lefty Williams, who was probably fatigued, threw a Wild Pitch, which allowed Ainsworth to score the winning run. Now, the game only lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes. Why? Well, both pitchers went the whole game, no managers made any other substitutions, and nobody made an error that game. Both pitchers went 18 Innings that day, and some pitchers today need four or five starts to hit 18 innings.

References:

  1. Chicago White Sox vs Washington Senators Box Score: May 15, 1918 via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1191805150.shtml