MLB

Kansas City Royals at Tampa Bay Rays

· Major League Baseball
Kansas City Royals
22-55, 12-27 Away
Final
9 - 4
Tampa Bay Rays
53-27, 33-10 Home

Lyles ends 11-game losing streak, lowly Royals beat the majors-leading Rays 9-4

That finally changed Saturday.

Lyles ended a 15-game winless streak and the lowly Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 for their second victory in three days against the team with the best record in the majors.

“He had a big smile on his face when we came up the stairs (postgame),” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “The guys were ribbing him a little bit. He's got a lot of pride in what he does. He's handled himself tremendously well through this streak, so it feels really good for him.”

Lyles (1-11) allowed four runs and eight hits over six innings. It was his first victory since his final start last year on Sept. 30 while playing for the Baltimore Orioles.

“It feels really good,” Lyles said. “Even more so just how well we played all the way around team-wise. Just a really good team all around win."

Drew Waters, Freddy Fermín and Edward Olivares homered for the Royals, who have the second-worst record in the majors at 22-55.

Lyles retired his final eight batters before relievers Carlos Hernández worked a 1-2-3 seventh and Nick Wittgren went two perfect innings.

Tampa Bay (53-27) is 5-7 over its last 12 games including two losses to Oakland, which has the worst record.

“We're not firing on all cylinders right now,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I think we're in a tough stretch. Wins just haven't come easy for us. Today, give the Royals credit, they put it to us.”

Rays shortstop Wander Franco returned after being benched for two games for how he was handled frustrating situations this season and hit a 417-foot solo homer during a two-run first. He added an RBI single in a two-run second.

“There's no denying he's a really good player and he really makes our team, a good team, that much better,” Cash said.

Waters got his third homer, and second in three days, as the Royals scored three times in the third to make it 4-3.

Fermin hit a three-run homer off Yonny Chirinos (3-3) during a four-run fourth as the Royals rebounded to go up 7-4. Bobby Witt Jr. drove in his second run with a run-scoring double.

“Coming from behind was nice,” Quatraro said. “Getting down four, things didn't look great. To keep adding on was a nice thing.”

Nick Pratto made it 8-4 in the sixth on his second RBI grounder. Olivares went deep against Zack Littell in the eighth.

Chirinos allowed eight runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Royals: C Salvador Pérez, who left Friday's game with a right hamstring cramp, was the DH and went 0 for 4 with a walk. ... LHP Ryan Yarbrough (facial fractures), struck by an 106.2 mph liner off the bat of Oakland's Ryan Noda on May 7, was scheduled to make his second rehab start Saturday night for Triple-A Omaha.

Rays: Ace Shane McClanahan (mid-back tightness) had his next start pushed back from Wednesday to Friday. The lefty, who left Thursday in the fourth inning, threw for five minutes in the outfield.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Daniel Lynch (1-3) was set to face RHP Tyler Glasnow (2-1) on Sunday.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Tampa Bay Rays?
  • TV Channel: Royals at Rays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Rays: 84.8%
Royals: 15.2%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Mejía lined out to center.
9th Inning Siri grounded out to shortstop.
9th Inning Walls flied out to left.
9th Inning Melendez struck out looking.
9th Inning Perez struck out swinging.
9th Inning Witt Jr. struck out swinging.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/kc.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originKC https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
1 Hit By Pitch 0
14 Ground Balls 13
8 Strikeouts 5
9 Runs Batted In 4
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
11 Hits 8
0 Stolen Bases 2
2 Walks 1
0 Catcher Interference 0
9 Runs 4
0 Ground Into Double Play 1
1 Sacrifice Flies 0
36 At Bats 34
3 Home Runs 1
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
10 Runners Left On Base 6
0 Triples 0
1 Game Winning RBIs 0
0 Intentional Walks 0
3 Doubles 2
15 Fly Balls 16
0 Caught Stealing 0
140 Pitches 110
0 Games Started 0
0 Pinch At Bats 0
0 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
0 Is Qualified In Steals 1
23 Total Bases 13
40 Plate Appearances 35
486.0 Projected Home Runs 162.0
6 Extra Base Hits 3
8.0 Runs Created 3.4
.306 Batting Average .235
.000 Pinch Hit Average .000
.639 Slugging Percentage .382
.389 Secondary Average .235
.350 On Base Percentage .257
.989 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .639
0.9 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 0.8
8.3 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 3.4
62.0 Batter Rating 33.0
12.0 At Bats Per Home Run 34.0
0.00 Stolen Base Percentage 1.00
3.50 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.14
.333 Isolated Power .147
0.25 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.20
.050 Walks Per Plate Appearance .029
.083 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average .000
18.0 Runs Produced 8.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.7 Patience Ratio 0.4
0.3 Balls In Play Average 0.3
103.8 MLB Rating 81.0
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Tropicana Field

Location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Attendance: 20,884 | Capacity:

2024 American League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Cleveland 92 69 .571 - L2
Kansas City 86 76 .531 6.5 W1
Detroit 86 76 .531 6.5 L2
Minnesota 82 80 .506 10.5 L4
Chicago 41 121 .253 51.5 W2

2024 American League East Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
New York 94 68 .580 - W1
Baltimore 91 71 .562 3 W3
Boston 81 81 .500 13 W1
Tampa Bay 80 82 .494 14 L1
Toronto 74 88 .457 20 L3
Full Standings