Photo provided by Matt LynchPITTSBURGH — The game started over five and a half hours before it ended. Both teams nearly ran out of players. It seemed like it would never end until it finally did.The Pirates and Rays finally settled their matchup in the top of the 13th inning, with Cedric Mullins’ two-run home run lifting Tampa Bay to an 8-7 win over the Pirates at PNC Park on Saturday night.

Scoring PlaysBottom 1st, 2-0 PIT: Bryan Reynolds drew a two-out walk against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen and Ryan O’Hean followed with a towering two-run home run to right field. Bottom 4th, 4-0 PIT: The second hit of the game by the Pirates (12-9) was also a two-run home run. Marcell Ozuna took Rasmussen deep to left field to double the lead.

Top 5th, 5-4 TB: Tampa Bay’s offense came out of the delay with some juice, scoring five runs against Pittsburgh’s bullpen. Junior Caminero doubled home the first run and scored on Jonathan Aranda’s base hit. Jonny DeLuca then delivered a pinch-hit two-run double to tie the game.

Cedric Mullins capped off the outburst with an RBI single to center. Four runs were charged to Cam Sanders and one went on the ledger of Evan Sisk. Bottom 8th, 5-5: On a 3-2 pitch from Bryan Baker with two outs, Nick Yorke singled home Brandon Lowe to draw even with the Rays (12-8).

Top 11th, 6-5 TB: Taylor Walls came all the way around to score from first base on a throwing error from Yohan Ramírez. Walls broke for second, Ramírez turned and threw to first but was charged with an error after the ball ended up all the way down the line. Bottom 11th, 6-6: Nick Yorke advanced to third on a Spencer Horwitz groundout to first base and hustled home on Konnor Griffin’s grounder to second base, beating a throw home to tie the game.

Top 13th, 8-6 TB: Cedric Mullins led off the 13th inning with a two-run home run off Yohan Ramírez. Bottom 13th, 8-7 TB: Konnor Griffin’s two-out single brought the Pirates within a run but they were unable to push across the tying run. Key MomentsThe Pirates had their chances in extras — as did the Rays — but Tampa Bay finally came through on Cedric Mullins’ two-run homer in the 13th.Pittsburgh had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th but Rays reliever Kevin Kelly struck out Marcell Ozuna and Nick Yorke to push the game to the 11th.

Yoendrys Gómez, who recorded his first save of the season, struck out Joey Bart with two in scoring position to end the game. Player of the GameRyan O’Hearn finished 2 for 3 with a two-run home run, two runs and a walk. Stat to KnowWith a double off Ian Seymour in the fifth inning, Oneil Cruz matched last season’s hit total against southpaws 21 games into this year.

He had 11 hits in 108 at-bats against lefties last season and is now 11 for 25 against them this year. Notable PerformancesPaul Skenes: 4.0 innings, three hits, no runs, no walks, five strikeouts, 64 pitches/43 strikesYohan Ramírez (2-1): 3.0 innings, four hits, three runs (one earned), two walks, one strikeout, 44 pitches/27 strikes.Ryan O’Hearn: 2 for 3, one home run, two RBI, two runs, one walkMarcell Ozuna: 2 for 6, one home run, two RBI, one runNoteworthyMarcell Ozuna finished extended his hitting streak to six games. Paul Skenes (yes, he did pitch in this game) now has a 0.50 ERA in three career starts against the Rays (1er/18ip).

The game was delayed for 2 hours and 27 minutes in the bottom of the fourth inning due to rain. The start of the game was pushed up from 4:05 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m.

ET. Up NextRHP Mitch Keller (1-1, 2.86 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the series finale on Sunday afternoon. He’ll be opposed by Rays LHP Shane McClanahan (1-1, 3.95 ERA).

First pitch: 1:35 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh/93.7 The Fan