Guillen's homer lifts Tigers at 3:30 a.m.

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 3-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 3 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 5 games of the Mariners in the wild-card standings.

Chad Durbin (8-6) pitched the 11th to earn the win and Sean Henn (2-2) took the loss, allowing Guillen's homer to left after getting two outs in the 11th. It was the second time this week Henn took the loss in extra innings for New York.

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."

The umpires made the final call to start the series opener at 11:05 p.m., and Yankees manager Joe Torre said he may have mentioned playing a doubleheader to them.

"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.

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.

Detroit blew a chance to send their fans home happy in the 10th.

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 3 RBI. He hit 2 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 4 hits, improving his batting average to .357, the best in baseball.

In a matchup of 45- and 22-year-old pitchers, it was a push.

Clemens gave up a season-high 6 earned runs, 6 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings.

Andrew Miller allowed 6 runs, 6 hits and 3 walks over 4½ innings in his first start since coming off the disabled list with a hamstring injury.

Clemens' major-league debut came more than a year before Miller was born in 1985.

Miller -- the sixth pick overall 14 months ago -- won the Clemens Award last year as the best pitcher in college baseball. The former North Carolina star became the first to face Clemens after winning the award honoring him.

After the starters were shaky, both bullpens were solid.

Detroit's Tim Byrdak, Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay and Rodney combined to pitch 5¿ innings of scoreless relief.

"To hold that lineup down for that long is amazing," Leyland said.

Edwar Ramirez, Joba Chamberlain, Kyle Farnsworth and Luis Vizcaino combined to pitch 4 innings of scoreless relief.

"The bullpen was outstanding," Clemens said.