WASHINGTON — Baseball’s a tough game, on fans as well as players, and for one little guy at Nats Park, Sunday’s marathon game between the Nationals and Pirates took him through some serious changes.

The game was a veritable roller coaster, as the Nats were down to their last strike in the ninth before Daniel Murphy’s home run sent the game to extra innings. A lot of extra innings.

The game went 5 hours and 48 minutes over 18 innings before the Pirates took the lead and won it, 2-1, on a home run by Starling Marte, though there was a nail-biting moment in the 16th when it took a perfect relay from Michael A. Taylor to Danny Espinosa to Wilson Ramos to cut down the Pirates’ Eric Fryer at the plate, keeping the game tied.

Put it all together and you have what Pirates manager Clint Hurdle described to The Associated Press as a crazy game. And if it was an emotional wringer for the grown-ups, it was more of an ordeal for our young Pirates fan — although it was nothing a hot dog and a Pittsburgh win couldn’t cure.

The Pirates’ TV crew captured the best moments:

He gave 100 percent, and it paid off.