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CLEVELAND -- When the game finally ended, Friday night had become Saturday morning, May had turned to June and Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon was tired of trying to predict the weather. James Loney homered twice, four Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a one-hitter and the Rays endured nearly five hours of rain delays before beating the Cleveland Indians 9-2 for their sixth straight win in a game that ended at 2:53 a.m. Scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m., the game was delayed three times before finally resuming at 12:13 a.m. -- 2 hours, 39 minutes after the third and lengthiest delay. Before that there was uncertainty, confusion and, of course, rain. "Its a very awkward way to do this, "said Maddon, who spent the weather stoppages monitoring the storms on an iPad in his office. "But if youre going to stick around that long you might as well win." The teams were delayed a total of 4:49, long enough for the calendar to change before nine innings were played. It ended just before 3 a.m., giving the teams a short turnaround before a 1:05 start on Saturday. It was the majors third marathon game in two days. On Thursday night, Kansas City and St. Louis were delayed an hour before the first pitch and another 4 hours, 32 minutes by rain before the Royals beat Cardinals 4-2 well after 3 in the morning. And about 20 minutes after the Rays got their final out, the San Diego Padres finished off a 4-3, 17-inning victory over the Toronto Blue Jays that took 4:58. Afterward, Tampa Bays Evan Longoria went on Twitter to thank the few thousand fans who hung around until the end. "A sincere thanks to each and every fan that stuck around to watch that game!" Longoria wrote. "You all made it fun. (hash)ClevelandRocks." Matt Joyce and Loney connected for two-run homers in Tampas five-run third inning off Scott Barnes (0-1), who replaced starter Corey Kluber following the weather stoppages. Loney added a solo shot to make it 6-2 in the eighth. Jamey Wright (1-1) came in for unbeaten Tampa starter Matt Moore and pitched three innings for the Rays, who went an AL-best 18-10 in May. Clevelands only hit was Ryan Raburns RBI double in the fifth off Josh Lueke. Cesar Ramos pitched three hitless innings for his first career save. The teams had little choice but wait out the long delays. With a forecast for heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday, crew chief Fieldin Culbreth and the umpires figured they had to try to get in one game with the possibility the whole weekend could get washed out. The teams arent scheduled to meet again this season. The game was delayed 1 hours, 57 minutes at the start, 13 minutes in the second inning and then for another 2:39 before it started again in front of a crowd that began as more than 30,000 and dwindled to just a few thousand, who waited it out and were rewarded for their patience. At about 11 p.m., Maddon, Indians manager Terry Francona, Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti and two umpires did a walking tour of the saturated outfield grass to inspect the conditions. Not long after that, the overworked grounds crew was summoned again to get the field ready and at 12:13 a.m. Wright threw a pitch to Nick Swisher. At one point during the third delay, Maddon, with the hood of his blue sweatshirt pulled over his head to try and stay dry, took a stroll through the soggy outfield and thought it might be unplayable. But in the end, he felt Culbreth and his crew handled things well. "It was very confusing to everybody," Maddon said. "Fieldin and the boys, umpiring wise, they were handed this. The group here felt the Indians really wanted to play the game tonight." Francona, too, praised the umpires. "I thought they handled it very well," he said. After thunderstorms blasted through the area, the 7:05 p.m. start was pushed back to 9:02 p.m. and the teams took the field under threatening skies. Kluber got two outs in the second inning when play was halted by rain at 9:18 as Culbreth ordered the grounds crew to put the tarp on the field. But within seconds of the infield being covered, the rain stopped and the game was re-started just 13 minutes later. Kluber gave up a walk and got Desmond Jennings to line out for the last out in the second when the rain resumed after three minutes of play and the game was stopped again at 9:34 p.m. Both Maddon and Francona met separately with the umpires as fans scrambled to stay dry. The Indians announced they reduced $1 dollar hot dogs to 50 cents as a way of thanking fans for enduring the rain. During the third delay, fans watched out-of-town games on the giant scoreboard and cheered when Baltimore beat the first-place Detroit Tigers on a walkoff homer, moving the Indians into a temporary tie atop the AL Central. Joyce said players wondered if they would ever take the field. "We were actually in the dark pretty much the whole night," he said. "Its tough. A lot of guys were ready to go home and play a doubleheader (Saturday)." The Rays came out swinging after the lengthy delays as Joyce and Loney homered off Barnes in the third to give Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead. Yunel Escobar singled with one out, and with two outs, Joyce drove Barnes pitch 411 feet over the wall in right-centre for his 10th homer. Kelly Johnson walked and scored on Longorias double, and Loney followed with his sixth homer, a shot that drew boos from the doused fans hanging around. Held without a hit through four innings by Moore and the journeyman Wright, the Indians cut it to 5-2 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Yan Gomes and Raburns two-out RBI double. NOTES: It was Loneys first multihomer game since Sept. 7, 2007. ... Maddon said there has been discussion about starting Moore on Sunday, built its more likely he will next in Detroit next week. ... Browns offensive linemen, including Pro Bowler Joe Thomas, visited the Indians clubhouse before the game and then crowded into the dugout to stay out of the rain. Thomas couldnt convince one of the rookies to do a belly slide across the tarp for money. ... Indians closer Chris Perez, on the disabled list with a sore right shoulder, will be reevaluated Sunday before the next step in his rehab is mapped out. ... Rays RHP Alex Colome, who made his major league debut Thursday in Miami, was optioned to Triple-A Durham. 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A decision has seemingly been made - Sundays Group B-deciding tilt against Finland ahead - but it could not have been an easy one. Price opened the tournament with a sturdy 19-save performance against the Norwegians, yielding just one goal. STILLWATER, Okla. -- Mike Gundys 100th career win at Oklahoma State was one of his best.Mason Rudolph threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score to help the Cowboys upset No. 10 West Virginia 37-20 on Saturday.Its special for all of us, Gundy said of the milestone. For me to not say that 100 wins is not special to me is not fair. That means that were doing well here and were having success.It was Gundys sixth win over a top-10 team since 2008. The Cowboys are now in position to contend for the Big 12 title.Theyve kind of created a monster here, and the only way to feed it is to win big games like we did today, he said. And thats just the way its going to be from this point on.Rudolph completed 26 of 36 passes for 273 yards. James Washington had six catches for 117 yards, Chris Lacy caught two touchdown passes and Jalen McCleskey matched a career high with 11 receptions for the Cowboys (6-2, 4-1 Big 12).It feels great, Lacy said. We knew we had a big game coming, and this was a game to go out and make a statement. We wanted to prove that we run the Big 12.West Virginias Skyler Howard passed for 212 yards, but he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble for the Mountaineers (6-1, 3-1).We just didnt play as good as we have the last couple of weeks, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. Maybe were not as good as we thought we were.THE TAKEAWAYWest Virginia: The Mountaineers hadnt played too tough of a schedule, so it was difficult to tell how good they were. West Virginia, which entered the game 10th in the nation in yards per game with 510 yards per game, finished with 421.Honestly, they were doing what we thought they were going to do, said West Virginia receiver Daaikiel Shorts Jr.dddddddddddd who had 8 catches for 82 yards. We had stuff that was there. They did exactly what we thought they were going to do, we just didnt execute.Oklahoma State: The Cowboys are known for their explosive offense, but their defense led the way in this one. Three times, the Cowboys forced turnovers and gained possession inside the West Virginia 15-yard line, leading directly to 17 points.Gundy said the Cowboys showed great discipline on Ramon Richards 59-yard interception return in the third quarter and Kevin Henrys 26-yard interception return in the fourth.We practice the fumble recovery and the interception, blocking in front of the returner, and not blocking below the waist, Gundy said. The time that we put into it and the players ability to focus and absorb that information has paid great dividends for us, and today was a great example.POLL IMPLICATIONSWest Virginia: The Mountaineers are looking at a steep drop because they dont have any really strong wins to give them a case to avoid it. They could fall out of the Top 20.Oklahoma State: The Cowboys could re-enter the rankings. They might already have been in the Top 25 if not for a controversial loss to Central Michigan.INJURY REPORTRushel Shell, West Virginias leading rusher, left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury and did not return.UP NEXTWest Virginia hosts Kansas on Saturday.Oklahoma State plays at Kansas State on Saturday.---AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org---Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CliffBruntAP . ' ' '