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. LHP Jeff Beliveau was recalled, but later optioned so Rays RHP Chris Archer can make his season debut Saturday. Cheap Adidas Ultra Boost Womens .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. Buy Adidas Ultra Boost . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. http://www.stansmithdiscount.com/discount-nmd-shoes.html .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Cheap Stan Smith Red . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. Cheap Stan Smith Shoes Mens . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed and left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny have been cleared to bowl in international cricket with immediate effect, after their remedied actions were found to be legal by the ICC.Both bowlers had their actions reassessed at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane on September 8 and their elbow extensions for all deliveries were found to be within 15 degrees, which is the upper limit according to ICC regulations. The umpires are free to report Arafat and Taskin in the future if they believe they use a suspect action, the ICC said in a release.Taskin will now be added to Bangladeshs ODI side for the first two games against Afghanistan on September 25 and 28. Bangladeshs selectors had announced a 13-man squad on Thursday, with chief selector Minhajul Abedin confirming a spot was open in case Taskin was cleared.Sunny, meanwhile, is not in the current Bangladesh squad, and will focus on the National Cricket League first-class tournament which begins on September 25.I feel at peace now, Sunny told ESPNcricinfo. I am really happy that my bowling action has been cleared by the ICC. It was a big test for me, and I have passed it. I had gone through months of rehabilitation, and to finally have my action cleared is great. Taskin too went through all of this since we were both reported, suspended and went for the reassessment ttogether.ddddddddddddI havent spoken to him yet.I have heard the good news only a few minutes ago. I havent really shared it with too many people but I will. It is something that would take my career forward. I am going to be playing the NCL from September 25, and it is all I am thinking about right now.Sunny and Taskin were reported for a suspect action after Bangladeshs opening game in the 2016 World T20, against Netherlands in Dharamsala on March 9. Their actions had been found illegal after they were tested at the ICC-accredited centre in Chennai.The BCB contested the decision on Taskin, only for a judicial commission to uphold ICCs original decision. The twin suspensions prompted the BCB to take suspected bowling actions seriously at the domestic level. Their first bowling action review committee in more than a decade identified five bowlers with illegal actions from this seasons Dhaka Premier League.Previously, Bangladesh spinenrs Abdur Razzak and Sohag Gazi were also suspended for illegal bowling action but both returned to international cricket.Bangladeshs next international assignment is three ODIs at home against Afghanistan beginning on September 25, after which England visit for three ODIs and Two tests. ' ' '