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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Rays 8, Royals 7: Sliding Sammy Fuld

Posted Aug 11, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Aug 11, 2011 at 12:59 AM

Somewhere under that pile is Sam Fuld, who scored the winning run in the ninth inning Wednesday.
JASON BEHNKEN/STAFF

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG You had to see it to believe it.

The Rays rallied for an 8-7 victory Wednesday against the Royals, scoring the winning run when Sam Fuld tripled and continued home on a throwing error.

The left fielder slid into third and home, completing the trip with a head-first slide.

According to Elias, it was the second time in team history the Rays won a game after trailing by four runs in the ninth inning. The first was July 23, 2002 when they scored five in the ninth to beat the Red Sox 5-4 in the second game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park.

According to Baseball Reference, it was the first time a team won a game on a triple and an error since June 28, 2004 when the Pirates did it against the Cardinals. The last time it happened in an American League game was May 8, 1959 when the Tigers did against the Kansas City Athletics.

Here are some more tidbits from a wild win at the Trop:

—The comeback matched the biggest of the season for the Rays. They scored five in the ninth to beat the White Sox on April 8 in Chicago for their first win of the season. Dan Johnson capped that comeback with a three-run homer.

—The last time the Rays scored five in the ninth at home was Aug. 6, 2008 when they rallied to beat the Indians 10-7 on a three-run homer by Carlos Peña.

—Fuld tied a career-high by reaching base five times and set a career-high with three walks.

—Desmond Jennings didn’t start for the first time since joining the Rays but pinch-hit in the eighth and delivered a run-scoring single.

—Starter Wade Davis did not allow a first inning for the first time in four starts. He allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings.

—When J.P. Howell, who replaced Davis, allowed an inherited runner to score, it snapped a streak of 19 consecutive quality starts against the Royals at Tropicana Field. Howell was the pitcher who started the streak on June 3, 2007.

—Matt Joyce batted leadoff for the first time in his professional career and responded with three hits, including a fifth inning home run and a ninth inning single that started the comeback.

—Royals catcher Salvador Perez made his major league debut. He collected his first big league and RBI. He also caught five pop-ups and picked two runners off base. He is the first Royals catcher this season to pick a runner off base.

—Jake McGee earned his first big league win despite allowing a three-run homer to Melky Cabrera. It was his third straight appearance in which McGee has allowed a home run. That streak followed a stretch of 19 appearances in which McGee did not give up a home run.

—The Rays have won nine of their last 13 games. They have now won three of their last four series.