No yawner: Tigers top Yanks in late(!) thriller
Guillen's walk-off HR comes at 3:30 a.m. after rain delay, A-Rod's 43rd
 | The Tigers' Carlos Guillen, right, celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against to beat the Yankees 9-6 in the 11th inning. The game ended at 3:30 a.m. Saturday — with several thousand fans still at Comerica Park — following a four-hour rain delay. |
Paul Sancya / AP |
DETROIT - Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” blared through the speakers at Comerica Park, a fitting send-off for several thousand Detroit Tigers fans that stuck around for a game that lasted even longer than the 4-hour and 1-minute rain delay that preceded it.
Carlos Guillen’s three-run homer lifted Detroit to a 9-6 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday morning.
“First time I hit one at 3:30 in the morning,” Guillen said. “Long day for us.”
It was even longer for the Yankees.
Alex Rodriguez hit his 43rd homer for the Yankees, who got a poor performance from Roger Clemens and fell three games behind the Seattle Mariners in the wild-card race and 6½ behind Boston in the AL East.
“It’s just tough to take a loss at 3-something in the morning,” New York catcher Jorge Posada said.
The Tigers pulled within 1½ games of the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central, and moved within five games of the Mariners in the wild-card standings.
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The game lasted 4 hours and 24 minutes and ended at 3:30 a.m. EDT, with several thousand fans still at Comerica Park.
“We got the game in and fortunately, we got the win,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “I haven’t played a game that ended this late.”
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“But I don’t make that decision,” Torre said. “It certainly made it tougher to lose. I don’t know what to say, basically. I’m pretty well spent.”
The Yankees had chances to go ahead in the ninth and 10th innings, but Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney shut them down.
Melky Cabrera hit a leadoff single in the ninth and stole second, but Derek Jeter, Rodriguez and Posada struck to end the threat.
Posada argued with umpire Bob Davidson about the second called strike and had to be calmed down by first-base coach Tony Pena. When Posada struck out looking, he turned and said something to Davidson and was ejected.
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Torre came out of the dugout as Posada shouted face to face with Davidson, and had to restrain the catcher from continuing the heated argument.
“His strike zone was a mystery — on both sides,” Torre said.
Posada declined to comment about what led to his ejection.
Rodney walked Hideki Matsui to start the 10th, then got out of the inning with a double play and groundout.
Magglio Ordonez, who homered nearly 4 hours earlier in the first inning, led off the first extra inning with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. Mariano Rivera intentionally walked two Tigers to load the bases, then got out of the jam with a liner and a strikeout.
Curtis Granderson went 4-for-6 with three RBIs. He hit two triples, extending his major league lead to 21, and became the first Tiger to hit at least 20 since Ty Cobb in 1917.
Ordonez also had four hits, improving his batting average to .357, the best in baseball.
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