LATE FRIDAY Simon and the Bucs stop here -- finally

A 15th-inning home run gave the Pirates a 5-4 win over the Indians.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon celebrated Randall Simon's game-winning home run in the 15th inning, trudged back to his office and pulled out a blanket.
He was too exhausted and emotionally drained to drive home, and it was much too late to find a hotel, so he decided to bunk for the night -- or, actually, the early morning -- on his clubhouse couch.
"I'm just going to sleep right here," he said. "I'm not going home. What's the point?"
The Cleveland Indians must have felt the same way. They were just as drained and worn-out as the Pirates, only they had nothing to show for one of the longest nights they'll ever experience in the majors.
The Pirates overcame a three-run Indians lead, two rain delays totaling two hours and one extra-inning scare after another to outlast Cleveland 5-4 on Friday night on Simon's homer off Danys Baez (0-5).
Both teams threatened repeatedly after the Indians squandered a three-run lead, then recovered to tie it at 4 on Josh Bard's RBI single in the eighth inning.
Ending it
As so often happens in games so long, one quick swing of the bat ended it.
Simon's seventh homer came only two innings after he was ordered to bunt a runner up because McClendon felt a jammed finger prevented him from properly swinging.
"I couldn't swing the bat hard at all," Simon said. "But I faced him [Baez] last year and I knew to look for a fastball there. I'm just glad we get to go home now -- and we're going home after winning."
The Indians used all but two of their 25 players trying to win it -- manager Eric Wedge used a pitcher to pinch-hit and two others as pinch-runners in the 11th -- but still couldn't pull it out.
"It was a marathon," Wedge said. "It came down to who was going to get the big hit to win it. To go that deep into the game with that much effort, you hate to end up on the short end."
Salomon Torres (5-2), getting the decision for a third consecutive game, pitched four scoreless relief innings to win it for the Pirates, who won their fifth in six games.
"It was a wild game. It was one of the most exciting games I've ever played in. You couldn't have scripted this better," Torres said.
The Indians disagreed.
"We really wanted to win this," starting pitcher Brian Tallet said. "To see it end in such dramatic fashion ..."
Back and forth
Cleveland led 3-0 in the third, but Tallet's throwing error set up a four-run Pirates third keyed by Aramis Ramirez's three-run homer off the left-field foul pole.
The Pirates should have known it would be a strange night when the start of the game was delayed 24 minutes by rain, even though it wasn't raining in any of Pittsburgh's suburbs.
Once play started, the umpires kept it going even as the rain nearly became a downpour at times. The umpires finally stopped it after nine innings for a 1-hour, 36-minute delay devoted mostly to getting the field back into playing shape.
"Nobody wanted to have to come back here tomorrow [Saturday] and play this over again," McClendon said.
Least of all Simon.
"I'm really, really happy it's finally over," Simon said. "I'm even happier because we won."
Notes
The game ended at 1:37 a.m. EDT. ... After play resumed in the 10th, it resembled a high school game, with the few hundred Pirates fans remaining sitting behind their dugout cheering, and the few hundred Indians fans doing the same. ... The latest finish for a Pirates home game was 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 9, 1963, a doubleheader against Houston in which both games went into extra innings. ... Simon said it was his first game-ending homer in the majors. ... Cleveland is 3-10 in interleague play; the Pirates are 4-6. ... The Indians are 0-4 in PNC Park, where they were swept in a three-game series in 2001. ... It was the longest game for both teams since 1998, when the Pirates played 16 innings against the Padres and the Indians went 17 against Seattle.
CLEVELANDPITTSBURGH
abrhbiabrhbi
Lawton lf8120Lofton cf7010
Blake 3b7220Kendall c7120
Gerut rf3001BGiles lf4111
Spncer rf4010ARmrz 3b6113
Brdley cf5131RSndrs rf3010
Brssrd 1b7031ANunez ph1000
Bard c4011Hyzdu rf2000
Peralta pr0000KYong 1b3010
Laker c3000Simon 1b3111
JMcDld ss7020JWilsn ss6010
BPhllps 2b7020Rboulet 2b5110
Tallet p2000Fogg p1000
Srensen ph1010Stairs ph1000
Boyd p0000Srbeck p0000
Riske p0000Tvarez p0000
Crisp ph1000CWilsn ph1000
Wstbrk p0000MWlms p0000
DMiceli p0000STorres p1000
Sbathia ph1010
JaDvis pr0000
BAndsn pr0000
Mlhllnd p1000
DBaez p1000
Totals624184Totals515105
Cleveland201000010000 000--4
Pittsburgh004000000000 001--5
No outs when winning run scored.
E--Blake (6), Tallet (1), Kendall (3), ARamirez (15), Reboulet (1). DP--Cleveland 2, Pittsburgh 1. LOB--Cleveland 15, Pittsburgh 13. 2B--Blake (14), Broussard (7), BPhillips (10), Kendall (8), BGiles (13), RSanders (10). 3B--Lofton (3). HR--ARamirez (6), Simon (7). SB--Bradley 3 (12). CS--Kendall (3). S--Fogg. SF--Bradley.
IPHRERBBSO
Cleveland
Tallet674002
Boyd1 1-300021
Riske2-300001
Westbrook100001
DMiceli100001
Mulholland320060
DBaez L,0-5111100
Pittsburgh
Fogg773305
Sauerbeck2-321111
Tavarez1 1-300001
MiWilliams230001
STorres W,5-2460002
Mulholland pitched to 2 batters in the 14th, DBaez pitched to 1 batter in the 15th. Umpires--Home, Jerry Layne; First, Dana DeMuth; Second, Marvin Hudson; Third, Greg Gibson. T--4:32. A--26,305.