KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tyler Glasnow allowed one run over six innings, Jose Siri hit two solo home runs and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader.
Kansas City sends Cole Ragans (2-3, 5.92 ERA) to the mound for the second game of the split doubleheader, which became necessary when rain postponed Friday's opener. Tampa Bay had not announced its starter for the nightcap.
Glasnow (3-3) gave up six hits and fanned seven in the opener. He got his first win in over a month when the Rays beat Oakland on June 14.
Siri homered in the third inning off Alec Marsh (0-3) and in the ninth off Nick Wittgren to mark the seventh time in his career that he’s gone deep twice in a game.
Francisco Mejia extended the Tampa Bay lead in the fifth with a home run to left field, his fourth of the season.
Royals reliever Collin Snider started the eighth inning by throwing 13 consecutive balls, which loaded the bases for the Rays. Luke Raley took advantage with a two-RBI single and Josh Lowe hit a sacrifice fly to push the Tampa Bay lead to 5-1.
The Royals squandered a chance to score off Glasnow in the fourth when MJ Melendez singled and stole second base. Glasnow struck out the next two hitters and forced the following batter to ground out to escape the jam.
In just his third career start, Marsh allowed two runs, walked one and struck out 11 over six innings. The 11 strikeouts are the most by a Royals pitcher in his third or fewer start in team history. He allowed five hits.
Bobby Witt Jr. cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fifth inning, belting a homer 424 feet to left-center field as the Royals trailed 2-1. In the next at-bat, Salvador Perez hit a double for his 500th career extra-base hit, making him the sixth Royals player to reach that mark. That was one of four hits for the All-Star.
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