By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals dropped their seventh game in a row at Kauffman Stadium, moving to one game under .500 on their home turf, falling to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday evening 5-1 in their series opener.
Danny Jansen's eighth home run of the year gave the Rays a 2-0 lead in the second inning, driving home José Caballero. Jansen extended the lead in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly, scoring Jonathan Aranda, and Aranda drove in another run in the fifth inning for Tampa Bay with an RBI single bringing home Yandy Díaz, giving the Rays a 4-0 lead, which they held through seven innings.
Tampa Bay scored their final run, continuing the shutout in the eighth inning as Jake Magnum grounded into a forceout, Bobby Witt Jr throwing out Aranda at second base, but allowing Junior Caminero to score after his leadoff double. The Royals scored their lone run in the ninth inning, an RBI single by Vinnie Pasquantino driving in Maikel Garcia.
Kris Bubic took the loss, falling to 6-5 on the season, giving up four runs, two earned, on eight hits while striking out eight batters. At the plate, the Royals managed just four hits overall, Pasquantino going 1-for-4 with the RBI and Garcia going 1-for-4 with the run scored.
Kansas City and Tampa Bay continue their series tomorrow. Michael Wacha (4-6, 3.24 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Drew Rasmussen (6-5, 2.61 ERA) for the Rays. First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame begins at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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