Bay sparks Pirates to 18-inning victory, 8-7

He also homered and prevented another against Houston Saturday night.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jason Bay hit a home run, prevented another and scored the winning run in the 18th inning, with the kind of play befitting an athlete who grew up in Canada -- a forecheck worthy of a hockey rink.
There were a month's worth of highlights in the Pittsburgh Pirates' 8-7, 18-inning win over the Astros on Saturday night, believed to be the longest game in time (5 hours, 49 minutes) played in Pittsburgh and the longest in the majors, by innings, in 10 months. It also was the longest NL game in three years.
"There were a lot of moments in that game that led up to the final outcome," Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said Sunday. "It's like that final free throw that's made or missed -- there were 100 other plays ahead of that."
Not all of them by the winning team, either, though the grumpy Astros had trouble finding much to be encouraged about following such a long night, and early morning, in which they accomplished little but using up their bullpen while losing a fifth consecutive game.
Garner ejected
Astros manager Phil Garner, ejected for arguing what appeared to be a phantom tagout at the plate 10 innings before the game ended, didn't hold his usual pregame media session Sunday -- probably wishing he had gotten a little more sleep and at least one more run the night before.
Bay had the key hit Saturday, a three-run homer in the fifth inning that was his ninth homer in as many games, and he followed with his 10th in 10 games Sunday. But his biggest hit Saturday came in the 18th, when he upended catcher Eric Munson to score the decisive run on a sacrifice fly ball to short center field by Jose Bautista.
"I was scoring there, believe me," Bay said.
He didn't hesitate to go, even though a major league runner almost never tags up and tries to score on a fly ball that is nearly a pop-up.
The players probably were a little too bleary-eyed Sunday to replay the game in their minds, especially after arriving back at PNC Park about eight hours after leaving. But there was a lot to remember about the longest game innings-wise in Pittsburgh since a 20-inning Cubs-Pirates game on July 6, 1980, and in a major league regular-season game since the Blue Jays beat the Angels 2-1 in Toronto in 18 innings last July 28.