Rays sixth – Tampa Bay exploded for six runs in the third and added two more late as the Rays beat the Royals 10-4 for their sixth straight win in Kansas City.
When the Royals scored in the first inning, it looked like Tampa Bay’s streak might finally wobble. But the Rays answered with a seven-run kind of swing—starting with a third-inning rally that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 6-1 lead.
Griffin Jax surrendered a first-inning homer to Carter Jensen. Jensen’s solo shot was his 12th of the year, and Kansas City made it 1-0 early. The Rays didn’t panic. They waited, loaded the bases, and struck in the top of the third.
Nick Fortes led off the inning by dropping a bunt down the third-base line and reaching second on a throwing error by Nick Loftin. Yandy Diaz walked, and Aranda followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. With runners at the corners and nobody out. Junior Caminero—already red-hot—sent a long fly ball over the wall in left field to give the Rays a 4-1 lead. It was Caminero’s 23rd homer of the year and the fifth straight game with a blast.
The damage didn’t stop. On the very next pitch from Royals starter Noah Cameron. the Rays again found the seats in left-center for another homer. Vilade’s sixth of the year made it 5-1. Then DeLuca and Simpson singled. Deluca scored on an RBI single by Ben Williamson, and Tampa Bay ended the inning with a 6-1 advantage.
Six runs were already more than enough, but the Rays kept pushing in the middle innings. They tacked on two runs in both the fifth and the sixth. Fortes drove in both runs with a single in the fifth. and the sixth inning turned into trouble for Kansas City’s pitching. Tampa Bay worked six walks in the sixth—one was erased by a double play—but after that. Eric Cerantola walked five consecutive batters. Runs still slipped across via a wild pitch and the second run scored after another walk.
On the night, the Rays totaled 10 hits, walked 11 times, and struck out only twice. Every walk—11 of them—came in the first 5.2 innings. The Royals’ staff didn’t fare as well against Jax and the Tampa Bay bullpen either. Compared with the Royals’ pitching performance, Jax and the pen walked only one batter and struck out seven.
Jax did the heavy lifting. Over six innings, he allowed three runs on five hits, struck out five, and walked none. He earned the win, then turned things over to Booser, Sulser, and Kimbrel. Suler allowed the only other run to score in the eighth.
The result landed with extra weight in the standings. For late-June watchers, the Yankees dropped their sixth straight and fell to 2/5 games back of the Rays in the division. Tampa Bay is now four games up in the loss column on the Yankees. With a record of 49-33. the Rays will try to keep the momentum rolling Wednesday night. with Shane McClanahan taking the ball after getting some extra days of rest. He’ll face Seth Lugo.
Tampa Bay Rays Kansas City Royals Griffin Jax Junior Caminero Junior Caminero home run Carter Jensen Noah Cameron Shane McClanahan Seth Lugo MLB standings
Sixth straight win, nice.
I didn’t watch but that third inning sounds insane. Like how do you go from 1-0 to 6-1 that fast? Also Nick Fortes getting a bunt and an error seems like the whole game right there.
Isn’t Griffin Jax like the closer? So if he gave up a homer in the first… that’s basically on him, right? I know they won 10-4 but still feels like bad pitching early.
Kansas City always starts hot and then just melts, idk. That article said the Rays loaded the bases and “waited” like it’s a strategy lol. And Caminero having 23 homers already like come on, that’s basically cheating. Also the Royals scoring first means nothing if they can’t keep it together in the middle innings.