"Jordan Zimmermann's season, one of the best by a pitcher in the Washington Nationals' brief history, deserved a better end than the one that unfolded Sunday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. He finished his shortest start this year by walking in the go-ahead run. He skulked off the mound shaking his head with a mess behind him, a Cincinnati Red occupying each base.

The end became more painful hours later, as Zimmermann watched a loopy finish devolve into a 5-4 walk-off loss. After the Nationals rallied to take the lead in the ninth inning, Drew Storen blew a save and Collin Balester lost it in the 14th, when Joey Votto lined an opposite-field home run into the first row in left field.

The blast landed 5 hours 15 minutes after the first pitch, the longest game in Nationals history. It also rendered moot the Nationals' myriad clutch performances — Ryan Zimmerman's tying pinch-hit, Jayson Werth's go-ahead single, Rick Ankiel's miraculous throw in the ninth inning, the bullpen's 81 / 3 patchwork innings.

"That was quite a day," Manager Davey Johnson said. "I've been a part of some crazy ones. That's right up there with them.""