Kansas City Royals at Tampa Bay Rays

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

33-19, 12-11 Away

Final
8 - 1

Tampa Bay Rays

25-27, 14-16 Home

Seth Lugo becomes AL's first 8-game winner, Royals beat Rays 8-1 to improve to 33-19

Lugo (8-1) allowed one run and four hits, lowering his AL-best ERA from 1.79 to to 1.74. Only Philadelphia's Ranger Suárez has more victories in the majors with nine.

“He’s been amazing,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said.

Lugo struck out three and walked two, and became the first Royals starter to win each of his first five road starts to open the season.

“I felt like I had to battle tonight,” Lugo said. “Didn’t feel like I had my best stuff, but stayed in the zone and got some contact.”

The Royals are a season-best 14-game over .500 at 33-19. Kansas City was 15-37 after 52 games last season and did not get to 33 wins until Aug. 1.

“The confidence we have is great,” Witt said. “We’re just putting together some great, great team things. It’s a lot of fun.”

Massey put Kansas City ahead 5-1 in the fifth with a three-run homer off Tyler Alexander (2-3). Massey, who has 21 RBI in his last 21 games, left in the sixth due to lower back tightness.

“I've had experience with it,” Massey said. “Got out of there early, got treatment done, and we'll see.”

Witt extended his hitting streak to seven games with a solo homer against Alexander in a two-run seventh that made it 8-1. Both dugouts were warned by the umpires after Alexander hit the next batter after Witt, Vinnie Pasquantino, with a 90.3 mph fastball.

Kansas City tied a franchise record set by the 1978 team of scoring eight or more runs in five straight games,

“I think the word that comes to mind they've just been relentless,” Quatraro said.

Tampa Bay has lost a season-high five in a row to fall to 25-27.

The Rays loaded the bases with one out in the first against Lugo, but scored just once on Jonathan Aranda’s fielder’s choice grounder.

Tampa Bay finished with four hits and is hitting .237 as a team.

“I'm concerned,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But I've been concerned for quite sometime. We're not getting it done.”

After opener Shawn Armstrong went two perfect innings. Alexander gave up eight runs and 11 hits in five innings. Alexander took a perfect game into the eighth in his previous outing, a start May 17 at Toronto.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Reliever Carlos Hernández (right shoulder impingement) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list and pitched the ninth. The righty had been out since opening day. To clear a roster spot, RHP Tyler Duffey was designated for assignment.

Rays: OF Josh Lowe (right side strain) received a cortisone shot in an attempt to avoid going on the injured list. … RHP Shane Baz (Tommy John surgery) was optioned to Triple-A Durham after making four minor league rehab starts.

Royals RHP Brady Singer (4-2, 2.70 ERA) and Rays RHP Aaron Civale (2-4, 5.92 ERA) are set to start Saturday.

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: 51.0%

Royals: 49.0%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Caballero flied out to left.
	9th Inning	Arozarena flied out to left.
	9th Inning	Aranda flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Hernández relieved Long
	9th Inning	Velázquez flied out to right.
	9th Inning	Fermin flied out to center.

Statistics

KC		TB
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
2	Hit By Pitch	1
7	Ground Balls	7
8	Strikeouts	4
8	Runs Batted In	1
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
12	Hits	4
3	Stolen Bases	0
4	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
8	Runs	1
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
37	At Bats	31
2	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
23	Runners Left On Base	10
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	1
22	Fly Balls	20
1	Caught Stealing	0
155	Pitches	134
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
20	Total Bases	5
43	Plate Appearances	34
324.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
4	Extra Base Hits	1
8.6	Runs Created	0.6
.324	Batting Average	.129
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.541	Slugging Percentage	.161
.378	Secondary Average	.097
.419	On Base Percentage	.206
.959	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.367
0.3	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.4
8.9	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.6
57.0	Batter Rating	10.0
18.5	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.75	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.60	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.94
.216	Isolated Power	.032
0.50	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.50
.093	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.059
.054	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.032
16.0	Runs Produced	2.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.1
100.8	MLB Rating	63.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0