The Kansas City Royals’ bats have been stymied by Tampa Bay’s starting pitchers through the first two contests of the teams’ three-game series.
Considering the Rays’ recent success with scheduled starter Shane Baz on the mound, they could be in good position to sweep the set and hand the Royals a 10th straight home loss and fifth consecutive overall defeat on Thursday afternoon.
Tampa Bay’s Taj Bradley and Drew Rasmussen each allowed two hits over a combined 11 2/3 scoreless innings while the club outscored Kansas City 8-1 in the first two games of the series. During Wednesday’s 3-0 victory, Rasmussen and four relievers held the Royals to three hits and recorded 10 strikeouts.
“Any time you can blank a team, it’s great,” Tampa Bay’s Pete Fairbanks, who posted his 14th save, told FanDuel Sports Network Sun.
Baz (7-3, 4.79 ERA), meanwhile, is 4-0 as the Rays have won each of his last six starts. The numbers for the right-hander haven’t been great — a 4.01 ERA and six completed innings just once during that stretch. His teammates, however, have provided Baz with an average run support of nine per game during that stretch.
Last Friday, Baz allowed a three-run homer, two other runs, four total hits and four walks over 5 1/3 innings of the Rays’ 14-8 home victory over Detroit.
Baz also was roughed up by the Royals during an 8-2 loss on May 1. He didn’t allow a run through the first three innings and lasted 5 2/3 after yielding seven runs, nine hits and three walks. Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run homer off Baz, while Maikel Garcia went 2-for-3 against him.
However, Tampa Bay, which scored two runs Wednesday via RBI bunts and recorded all 11 hits on singles, has won 24 of the last 33 games — and five straight on the road — since sitting 21-26 on May 19.
Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz is batting .476 during a 15-game hitting streak. Meanwhile, teammates Brandon Lowe has a .396 average during a 12-game hitting streak, and Jonathan Aranda is batting .410 during a 10-game streak.
“I think the pieces have always been there,” Fairbanks said. “Just guys taking the good at bats.”
Diaz is 2-for-4 against scheduled Royals starter Michael Lorenzen (4-7, 4.81), who allowed a homer to Junior Caminero, three other hits and two walks during six strong innings of a 3-1 victory at Tampa on April 29.
Lorenzen is 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA in his past three overall starts. The veteran right-hander yielded five hits and three walks at San Diego on Friday, but only two runs in 5 1/3 innings of his team’s 6-5 win — the Royals’ most recent victory.
Kansas City is 14-26 since sitting 24-16 on May 9. The Royals also have lost 16 of 19 at home, including nine in a row. They’ve been outscored 39-12 during that losing streak.
“Maybe we’re trying to do too much,” Kansas City infielder Jonathan India said. “We gotta figure it out. It’s baseball. We got to move on; we can’t hang our heads.”
Witt is 1-for-8 in the series after hitting safely in seven consecutive contests.
–Field Level Media
