Rays fan viral prayer: Man visits St. Petersburg church before Game 5

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A visiting baseball fan turned to divine intervention to help fuel a Tampa Bay Rays World Series win, drawing more than 100,000 viewers online before heading into Tropicana Field for Game 5.

Viral church prayer

The backstory:

Paul Leader, known to many as "The Bridgeman," stopped outside St. Pete First United Methodist Church to pray for a Rays' victory ahead of a crucial matchup. 

Leader is visiting the area to spend time with his goddaughter and her husband, Rick, who live in St. Petersburg.

The trio attended Games 2 and 3 together before Leader and Rick secured seats in the outfield for Game 5. 

After the team secured a win following his initial prayer, Leader chose to revisit the church steps prior to the game on Wednesday.

Belief in comeback

What they're saying:

Leader said turning to prayer came naturally when his family suggested the idea during the postseason run.

"Rick asked me if I wanted to say a prayer at a church and I said certainly, so I came here, and I said a prayer," Leader said. "It didn’t matter which church it was, because the Lord is in every house so. He heard my prayers, so we came back to the same one today hoping He was still in the neighborhood."

The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX13’s Briona Arradondo who interviewed Rays fan Paul Leader.