December 2nd - Daily Great Tampa Bay Rays Moment - Rey Sanchez’s Walk-Off Inside the Park Home Run

On June 11th, 2004 the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were in the midst of the most successful the franchise had seen up to that point. They were going to win 12 games in a row, come within four outs of a having a no-hitter thrown, they scored the most runs in a single game, and everything seemed to be breaking just right for them.

This particular night, the Devil Rays welcomed the Colorado Rockies to the Trop and the two teams battled back and forth all night. The game would eventually demand extra innings, after both teams combined to have three blown saves.

Anyway, to set the stage, Rey Sanchez came to bat with one in the bottom of the 10th, facing Shawn Chacon who had allowed the Rays to tie the game previous inning. Sanchez hadn’t homered in two years and only owned a total of 13 HR over his 13 year career.

However, he was 2-4 on the day with a double and fate would allow for something extraordinary to happen. With a 2-2 pitch, Sanchez sliced a linedrive down the right side that would land in shallow right field. Jeromy Bernitz - perhaps blinded by the Trop’s low lighting - tried to make a shoestring catch, only to completely whiff and have the ball go underneath his glove and roll in the corner.

Sanchez was able to motor around the bases while the Rockies outfield fumbled the ball around and actually made a throw towards third as Sanchez was actually heading home, where he’d be first embraced by an ecstatic Carl Crawford and eventually mobbed by the rest of his teammates as the Rays took a dramatic walk-off victory.