The surging Tampa Bay Rays are the latest team adding to the Kansas City Royals’ current misery at home.
After opening this series with a fourth straight road win, the Rays will try to send the Royals to their ninth consecutive home defeat Wednesday night.
Amid a 23-9 stretch, Tampa Bay cranked out 11 hits and got 6 2/3 scoreless innings from Taj Bradley during a 5-1 victory on Tuesday. The Rays have 29 runs over the past four games on the road, where they began a stretch of 16 of 19 on Tuesday. Except for a three-game home set with the Athletics beginning Monday, the Rays will be away from home until the All-Star break in mid-July.
The Rays are feeling confident, no matter what the venue.
“We’re a good ballclub,” said Rays catcher Danny Jensen, who has hit four of his eight homers in June.
Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro is well aware of that and also of the challenge his team faces while trying to snap a home slide that dates to a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on May 31.
“Going into the year, they expected to be a good team, they’ve played that way the last few weeks,” Quatraro said of the Rays.
Quatraro’s team has been outscored 36-12 by the Tigers, New York Yankees, Athletics and Rays in the eight consecutive home losses.
Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz had three hits Tuesday and is batting .483 with 12 runs during a 14-game hitting streak. Diaz is 3-for-8 with a double and home run against Wednesday’s scheduled Kansas City starter, Michael Wacha (4-6, 3.24 ERA).
The veteran right-hander rebounded with a 4-1 win against the Texas Rangers last Thursday by giving up a run and two hits over six strong innings. That came after he allowed eight runs in 11 1/3 innings of his previous two starts, losses to the Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
Wacha went 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts against the Rays last season and is 3-4 with a 4.98 ERA in eight career appearances versus them.
The Rays are one of six teams Wacha has pitched for during his career, spending the 2021 season with Tampa Bay.
However, it doesn’t matter how well Wacha pitches; The Royals need to score. Vinnie Pasquantino’s two-out, RBI single in the ninth was all the Royals could muster Tuesday, when they managed just four hits.
The Royals have been outscored 84-34 during their current 3-15 home rut. However, the belief remains, at least publicly, that the club can turn things around.
“We’ve just got to trust ourselves and trust each other,” Kansas City pitcher Noah Cameron said.
Scheduled Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen (6-5, 2.61 ERA) still ranks among the American League leaders in ERA despite going 1-1 with a 4.41 ERA in three starts since a stretch of four outings without allowing a run. The right-hander yielded four hits, three walks and hit a batter while giving up two runs Thursday in a 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. The loss snapped the Rays’ run of six consecutive victories in games started by Rasmussen.
He allowed a two-run homer to Pasquantino, one other run, and six total hits during the Rays’ 3-0 home loss to Kansas City on April 30.
Rasmussen has a 3-1 career record and 3.06 ERA in five games (three starts) against Kansas City.
–Field Level Media
