truebluefan

ST. PETERSBURG - While the eyes of the baseball world were focused in Boston - where the Yankees and Red Sox were playing two games that would help decide a division winner - two teams mired 20-something games out in their respective divisions met at Tropicana Field for a meaningless game - at least as far as standings are concerned.

But for the Devil Rays, who have suffered through a season full of bad bounces, Friday night's 6-5 comeback win over Cleveland contained more late-inning thrills than any significant late-August contest and gave a struggling team at least one night of redemption.

"This is what we'd like to envision in the future, doing this a little more often," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We've been coming back and coming back. It's nice to finish this thing off."

Rays left fielder Carl Crawford capped a three-run bottom of the ninth inning with a game-winning single down the first-base line.

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