The last time the Rockies played at Tropicana Field, Rey Sanchez hit an inside-the-park walk off home run

The last time the Colorado Rockies visited the friendly domed confines of Tropicana Field, Lou Pinella was still at the helm of the Vincent J. Naimoli-owned team, and Carl Crawford was fixing to head to his first All-Star game. Oh, and Scott Kazmir was still a 20-year-old pitching prospect in High-A with the New York Mets.

Also, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were about to embark on their winningest stretch in franchise history, catalysed by a three game sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

On Friday, June 11th 2004, the Colorado Rockies and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays hooked up for the first time at Tropicana Field. Chad Gaudin opposed Aaron Cook and the two sides would go back and forth, leading to extra innings and an ultra predictive ending as Rey Sanchez — who hadn’t homered in over a year — laced a line drive into the right field corner that Jeromy Burnitz horribly misplayed.

Choo Freeman, the Rockies center fielder, misplayed the ball even more, and Sanchez motored around the bases for a walk off inside-the-park home run.

The Rays took that victory and they’d win the next two games. The Colorado Rockies took the humiliating loss and decided to never return to Tropicana Field...until now.

Since then, the Rays have played the Rockies 12 times, each time in Colorado and the two sides have each won six games apiece.