The Royals’ night at Kauffman Stadium unraveled quickly Thursday, and it wasn’t just because Tampa Bay kept swinging the bats well.
Kansas City was already without Salvador Perez, who sat out with soreness in his right elbow, when another setback hit in the middle of the game. Starter Stephen Kolek, making his return after the birth of his daughter, got only two innings before leaving a 5-2 loss to the Rays. The Royals said he was dealing with general fatigue in the warm and humid weather.
Kolek worked 51 pitches through the first two innings, then handed the game over to Randy Dobnak, who made his Royals debut in relief. By then, Tampa Bay had already done damage. The Rays strung together three straight two-out hits in the second inning, with Taylor Walls delivering an RBI double and Richie Palacios following with an RBI single.
Kansas City nearly escaped with less trouble, but a defensive mistake added to the mess. Right fielder Kameron Misner misplayed a line drive on the warning track, with the ball popping into and then out of his glove.
That let Hunter Feduccia reach third with an RBI triple. Two innings later, Cedric Mullins added a two-run homer.
Tampa Bay finished with 10 hits, and the Royals never fully recovered. Dobnak allowed six hits and two runs over four innings, while John Schreiber, Daniel Lynch IV and Steven Cruz each worked a scoreless inning.
The Royals’ offense never found much rhythm after a quick jolt from Carter Jensen. The rookie catcher led off the first inning with a homer off Rays starter Ian Seymour, but Seymour shut things down after that and allowed only two more hits over six innings.
Seymour has been a problem for Kansas City for a while now. Last week, he held the Royals hitless through six innings in Tampa Bay, where Kansas City finished with just one hit total in the ninth. On Thursday, he struck out eight Royals and has now given up just one earned run and three hits with 15 strikeouts and one walk in his last two outings against them.
The Rays kept rolling, pushing their winning streak to eight games. Seymour picked up his fifth win and now has a 4.02 ERA.
Kansas City did get one more homer late, when Isaac Collins went deep in the seventh for a solo shot, trimming the deficit to four. It was his first home run since May 5 against the Cleveland Guardians.
But the Royals couldn’t build anything after that. They went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base, another quiet night for a lineup that never threatened to fully catch up.
The Royals are off Friday before opening a three-game weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday, Independence Day.
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