ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. The off-day and a temporary reset cant get here soon enough for the Royals. Amidst the angst about the performance of the bullpen, the Tampa Bay Rays did the majority of the damage against the Royals starter for the second straight night.
The Royals fell behind by four runs in the first two innings on their way to a 5-2 loss in front of 8,298 at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night as Royals pitcher Homer Bailey had his worst start of the season.
The loss extended the Royals losing streak to five games, and dropped their record on the road trip to 2-7 with one game remaining.
The Rays announced prior to Tuesday nights game that theyll activate left-handed pitcher Blake Snell, last years American League Cy Young Award winner, and hell start the series finale this afternoon.
The opener duties for the Rays on Tuesday night fell to pitcher Ryne Stanek. He pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Bailey didnt make it through two innings. He allowed four earned runs on three hits and four walks in an inning plus against the Rays.
Baileys previous two outings were stellar, including the way he skillfully diffused the Bronx Bombers last week in Yankee Stadium. Hed come into the night having allowed just one run and five hits in his previous two starts (13 innings).
On Thursday night, he became the first Royals pitcher to hold the Yankees to three hits or fewer in at least six innings at Yankee Stadium since Yordano Ventura (Sept. 7, 2014).
However on Tuesday night, Bailey didnt look anything like he had five days earlier. Bailey struggled to put pitches where he wanted to from the first batter.
He walked the first two batters he faced. Thanks largely to a double play turned by second baseman Whit Merrifield, Bailey got out of the first inning having given up just one run on a two-out RBI single by Joe Wendel.
Of the 38 pitches he threw in his inning plus of work, nearly half (18) were out of the strike zone. After striking out 27 batters in his first 23 innings of the season, Bailey didnt register a strikeout on Tuesday night.
Before he got pulled in what was ultimately a three-run second inning, Bailey allowed a walk, back-to-back singles and another walk to load the bases with one run having already scored in the inning and no outs.
The final two runs charged to Bailey came with Jake Newberry on the mound. Newberry gave up an RBI single to Lowe and a sacrifice fly to Yandy Diaz. The Rays chased Bailey, worked through the batting order one and a half times and established a four-run lead in the first two innings.
The Royals offense, which came into the day having averaged 4.43 runs per game, lacked one of its hottest bats and a player who regularly makes as hard of contact as anyone in the majors in Hunter Dozier (back spasms).
During the previous eight games, Dozier went 10 for 24 (.417) with five runs scored, three doubles, four home runs, five RBIs and eight walks. Hed been hitting so well that Royals manager Ned Yost moved him into the cleanup spot in the batting order behind Alex Gordon.
