Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

43-42, 20-17 Away

Final
5 - 1

Kansas City Royals

47-40, 30-17 Home

Zack Littell, Rays bullpen hold Royals in check in a 5-1 win interrupted by 2 1/2-hour rain delay

Brandon Lowe homered, Isaac Paredes drove in a pair of runs, and Richie Palacios had three hits, drove in a run and scored from third on a wild pitch by Brady Singer (4-5), the only run either team scored before the 2 1/2-hour delay.

When the game continued, the trio of Kevin Kelly, Colin Poche and Jason Adam surrendered just one run — Bobby Witt Jr.‘s homer in the sixth — before handing the ball to Pete Fairbanks. The Rays’ closer took care of the ninth to wrap up the win.

“Guys stayed pretty dialed in,” Littell said. “It obviously showed the way they went back out there and jumped on them.”

Littell (3-5) was pretty dialed in, too, wiggling out of one last jam just as thunder began to sound through Kauffman Stadium. MJ Melendez had hit a two-out pitch to right in the fifth and CJ Alexander followed with his first career big league hit, only for Littell to strike out Kyle Isbel and leave runners on the corners.

Sheets of rain began to fall moments after the teams walked off the field.

“We were really just chilling in here. Talking trash. Keeping it light,” Palacios said, “and making sure we had some energy when we got back on the field. We wanted to make sure we came out there and grabbed some more runs.”

Tampa Bay added to its lead when Palacios ripped an RBI double off John Schreiber in the sixth. Paredes added a two-run double off Chris Stratton in the seventh before Lowe homered off Nick Anderson in the ninth inning.

“You have to give them credit,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “One run wasn't going to be enough.”

Singer allowed one run on three hits and three walks over five innings for Kansas City. He escaped most of his messes except for the second inning, when Palacios singled, reached third on a double by Jose Siri and scored on his wild pitch.

Singer has not won since May 19, going 0-3 in his last seven starts. But the lousy record is not entirely his fault. He's allowed one earned run apiece in each of his last three starts, yet received two runs of support or fewer in 11 of 17 this season.

“Our bullpen matched up really well,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Everybody who came in threw really well.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Royals: INF/OF Adam Frazier (right thumb strain) could begin a rehab assignment this week, Quatraro said. Frazier went on the injured list June 24. He has spent the past few days ramping up baseball activity.

Rays RHP Ryan Pepiot (4-4, 4.40 ERA) tries to follow a strong start against Seattle when he faces the Royals for the first time in his career. Kansas City RHP Michael Wacha (4-6, 3.91) will oppose him after shutting down Cleveland his last time out.

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.

Matchup Prediction

Royals: 59.9%

Rays: 40.1%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Massey grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Perez grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Pasquantino grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Fairbanks relieved Adam
	9th Inning	Arozarena grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	J. Lowe popped out to third.

Statistics

TB		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
17	Ground Balls	11
8	Strikeouts	6
4	Runs Batted In	1
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
9	Hits	6
3	Stolen Bases	0
6	Walks	0
0	Catcher Interference	0
5	Runs	1
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
35	At Bats	32
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
19	Runners Left On Base	6
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	1
10	Fly Balls	15
0	Caught Stealing	0
174	Pitches	118
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
15	Total Bases	10
41	Plate Appearances	32
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
4	Extra Base Hits	2
6.1	Runs Created	1.6
.257	Batting Average	.188
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.429	Slugging Percentage	.313
.429	Secondary Average	.125
.366	On Base Percentage	.188
.794	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.500
1.7	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.7
6.1	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	1.7
39.0	Batter Rating	15.0
35.0	At Bats Per Home Run	32.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.24	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.69
.171	Isolated Power	.125
0.75	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.00
.146	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.000
.171	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.063
9.0	Runs Produced	2.0
0.8	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
85.8	MLB Rating	69.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0