A postseason baseball game had not been played in T-Moblie Park in Seattle since October 18, 2001, when the Mariners lost to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

Almost 21 years later, the fans got to see two games for the price of one. The sold-out stadium witnessed baseball history as the 18-inning game tied for the longest in the postseason as the Houston Astros defeated the Mariners by a score of 1-0 in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

Houston will advance to their sixth consecutive ALCS with the three-game sweep over Seattle. Only the Atlanta Braves (8) have been more times than the Astros.

Rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña broke the monotony of the game up with a 415-foot solo home run in the top of the 18th inning off reliever Penn Murfee to score the game’s only run.

“In the backyard, you dream of this type of situation,” Peña said about his game-winning home run in his postgame interview. “Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, and two outs. Every kid comes up with that scenario in their head and you just try to put together good at-bats and try to have fun with the boys.”

Although it was all smiles and happy dances for the Astros after the game, the six-plus hours’ marathon was stressful for not only the fans and players but also for both managers, who were getting close to using every relief pitcher they had in the bullpen.

It was an issue that was looming large in the back of their minds since there was a potential Game 4 on the horizon to be played on Sunday.

“I remember, against the Mets when I was with the Giants, we ran out of pitching,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker. “That’s a terrible feeling to run out of pitching. You’re not matching up. You’re just going on who is left. So, it’s a very secure feeling when you know that you have innings and you have quality in your bullpen.”

Facing elimination, the Mariners knew they would need their pitchers to control the bats of one of the best-hitting teams in baseball who could turn a scoreless game into a blowout in one inning. They did their job in keeping the Astros to 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Saturday.

The only problem for Seattle was they also needed to generate some offense against an Astros bullpen with the lowest ERA (2.80) in the majors this season.

Starter Lance McCullers Jr. went six scoreless innings for Houston, allowing only two hits while striking out seven. He then handed the ball off to his forceful bullpen, who finished the job by throwing 12 innings and sending 15 Seattle batters back to the dugout.

Houston got a stellar performance from starter turned reliever Luis Garcia who pitched five scoreless innings and received the win with Peña’s late-game heroics.

“I was trying to stay in the game as it was going,” Garcia told the media during his postgame press conference. “I was trying to go pitch by pitch, out by out, inning by inning, and I’m really happy that I did the work that the team needed.”

The Astros will get some much-deserved rest before preparing for Game 1 of the ALCS, which will begin Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.