ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Sam Fuld hit a game-tying triple and then scored on an errant throw to complete a five-run ninth as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 8-7 on Wednesday night. Fuld hit a drive to right center off closer Joakim Soria (5-5) and wound up scoring the running run when second baseman Johnny Giavotella was charged with an error for a bad relay throw to third. After Aaron Crow gave up consecutive singles in the ninth, Soria entered and gave up an RBI double to Evan Longoria, a run-scoring grounder by Ben Zobrist and Casey Kotchman’s RBI infield single before Fuld’s two-out hit. Soria has blown 7 saves in 28 opportunties this season.
Salvador Perez got his first career hit, RBI and made several key defensive plays in his major league debut and Melky Cabrera homered and drove in five runs for Kansas City.