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Grudzielanek's single in ninth leads Royals past Devil Rays

Jul 8, 2007 - 4:50 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Mark Grudzielanek hit an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, helping the Kansas City Royals rally past the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 8-7, on Saturday.

Esteban German had two hits and scored twice and Billy Butler hit his third home run of the season for Kansas City, which snapped a three-game losing streak against Tampa Bay.

In the ninth inning, Tony Pena Jr. led off with a single against reliever Shawn Camp (0-3) and moved to second on a sacrifice by David DeJesus. After Pena advanced to third on a groundout and Mark Teahen was walked intentionally to put runners on the corners, Grudzielanek lined a base hit to right to win the game.

"I had four at-bats in almost three weeks, so it's a smart thing to pitch to me and play the percentages," Grudzielanek said. "It's nice when it works out for you and you get the big knock."

"When you've got guys 0-2, you've got to put them away, especially with a free swinger who can get the bat on the ball and put it through the hole," Camp said. "Mark's a good hitter. He just fisted that one into the outfield."

The Royals had rallied in the eighth to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 lead, only to squander it in the top of the ninth.

Devil Rays reliever Jay Witasick started the eighth and walked the bases loaded before giving way to Casey Fossum, who walked the only two batters he faced, forcing in two runs to tie the game at 6-6.

"This game's crazy, man," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "You never know what's going to happen next. They couldn't find the strike zone and we had enough patience to let them continue to throw the ball out of the strike zone. I guess we should take some of the credit, but you just don't expect that to happen."

Butler then greeted Camp with a single to right, plating Teahen with the go-ahead run.

"I had to look for something that hit a lot of plate," Butler said. "It's got to be exactly what I'm looking for. I wasn't scared to take a pitch. It was in the strike zone, where I thought I could do something with the ball."

However, Tampa Bay came back with two outs in the ninth as Carl Crawford reached first on catchers interference by John Buck. After Crawford stole second, Brendan Harris delivered a single to right off closer Octavio Dotel (2-1) to forge a 7-7 deadlock.

"I was trying to throw good pitches, but that guy (Harris) was better than me and he hit it," Dotel said. "The good thing is, we won. And I got the win, so what can I say?"

"That's as good as Dotel's thrown all year, I think, as far as command and velocity," Bell said.

Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine, who allowed four runs, six hits and a walk in seven innings, fell behind early but watched his teammates three times in the fourth against All-Star Gil Meche for a 3-1 advantage.

Greg Norton drew a bases-loaded walk, Delmon Young hit an RBI single and Jonny Gomes lifted a sacrifice fly to put the Devil Rays ahead.

Tampa Bay increased its lead to 5-2 in the fifth on Carlos Pena's two-run homer, but Butler belted a solo shot in the fifth and DeJesus plated a run with a single later in the inning to draw Kansas City within one.

Gomes launched his 20th homer with two outs in the sixth, giving the Devil Rays a 6-4 bulge. It was the eighth blast in 12 career games against the Royals for Gomes. Meche allowed six runs, five hits and four walks in six innings.

The Devil Rays have lost 12 of their last 13 games.