Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

52-43, 21-25 Away

Final
2 - 4

Kansas City Royals

38-57, 21-28 Home

Bubic goes 7, Royals edge Rays 4-2 to win series

Dozier snapped a 2-all tie with two outs in the seventh when he singled off Brooks Raley (1-1) to score Whit Merrifield. Melendez added an insurance run with a double down the left-field line in the eighth.

The Royals overcame the loss of Bobby Witt Jr. for their first series win against the Rays since 2017. They broke an 11-series losing streak to the American League East.

“Just a great series. That is a good team and to walk out with a series win is a big deal for us,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We had so many guys on base and we had a lot of missed opportunities today and those are ones that usually slip away, but our guys just kept with it and got some big hits late.”

Bubic (2-6) tied with a season high by pitching seven innings. He gave up two runs on four hits, walked three and struck out four.

“Solid outing, to be able to pitch deep into a game like that in back-to-back outings is nice," Bubic said. "It’s good to give the bullpen a little break and the defense picked me up in some crucial situations. All around every facet was good today.”

For the second straight game, the Royals lost a lead but found some timely hits late to prevail.

Witt hit an RBI single in the first inning, but exited the game before the next half-inning even started. The 22-year-old rookie stole second but then gingerly ran to third on a fly ball to center field and was removed with right hamstring tightness. He is considered day to day.

“They told me as of now it’s just sore, tight hamstrings," Witt said. "Hopefully I will be back in there soon.”

He has a hit in 14 of his last 16 games with 12 RBI and eight stolen bases while hitting over .360 in that stretch.

Nick Pratto made it 2-0 in the second with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Michael A. Taylor.

Tampa Bay responded, as Yandy Diaz hit a 434-foot homer to center field for his first since May 14. The Rays tied the game in the sixth on a sac fly by Luke Raley.

“I was very happy I was able to hit that home run," Diaz said. "I wasn’t looking for it, it is not what I go for, but I was happy it happened.”

Taylor Clarke got his second save of the season.

ROSTER MOVES

Rays: Reinstated RHP Jeffrey Springs (right lower leg tightness) from the 15-day injured list and optioned RHP Luis Patino to Triple-A Durham.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Jonathan Heasley (right shoulder tendinitis) and LHP Daniel Lynch (blister) will begin rehab assignments in Triple-A Omaha.

Tampa Bay will start a four-game series in Baltimore on Monday with right-hander Corey Kluber (6-5, 3.73 ERA) on the mound. The Royals continue their homestand when they host the Angels on Monday with right-hander Zack Greinke (3-6, 4.64 ERA) getting the start.

How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Rays at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	J. Lowe flied out to left.
	9th Inning	B. Lowe popped out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	B. Lowe hit for Bethancourt
	9th Inning	Paredes struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Clarke relieved Coleman
	8th Inning	Merrifield struck out swinging.

Statistics

TB		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
10	Ground Balls	16
6	Strikeouts	6
2	Runs Batted In	4
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
5	Hits	14
0	Stolen Bases	1
3	Walks	0
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	4
2	Ground Into Double Play	1
1	Sacrifice Flies	1
29	At Bats	36
1	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
9	Runners Left On Base	22
0	Triples	1
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	3
14	Fly Balls	15
0	Caught Stealing	0
115	Pitches	137
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
10	Total Bases	19
33	Plate Appearances	37
162.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
3	Extra Base Hits	4
1.9	Runs Created	6.7
.172	Batting Average	.389
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.345	Slugging Percentage	.528
.276	Secondary Average	.167
.242	On Base Percentage	.378
.587	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.906
0.7	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.1
1.9	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	7.6
20.0	Batter Rating	39.5
29.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.48	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.70
.172	Isolated Power	.139
0.50	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.00
.091	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.000
.103	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.222
4.0	Runs Produced	8.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.5
71.5	MLB Rating	93.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0