[Art Deco]

Game 1: The Rays treated Royals starter and former teammate Drew Strotman rudely but it didn't matter in the end as the "B" bullpen blew up in an 8-5 loss to Kansas City. Vidal Brujan led off the game with HR #6 and Nick Schnell hit a 2-run shot for #16 off Strotman in the 2nd as they got to him for 5 runs in 5 innings, but with Alvarado, Anderson and De La Cruz all tired from having pitched the last two days they were going to have to rely on other relievers and it didn't go too well. Shane McClanahan got the start and wasn't terribly sharp, going 5 6 3 3 3 3 but left with a 5-3 lead. Asa Lacy, whose spot in the rotation he took, did well getting through the 6th but gave up a HR to Bobby Witt Jr to lead off the 7th, then a triple to Kevin Smith who scored on a sac fly to tie it up. Mitch Keller relieved him and got out of the seventh but made a mess loading the bases with nobody out in the 8th and all 3 runners scored as Will Smith allowed the last of them on another Smith triple. Smith also homered off McClanahan in the 5th as he had quite the game. The other two Rays runs came on a Seth Beer RBI single and a double play groundout, but they only managed 1 hit in the final 4 innings against the Royals bullpen.

Game 2: Another loss for the Rays as their primary bullpen guys were tired for a second day after pitching two straight in St. Louis. They fought back from falling behind 4-0 after an unfortunately timed error and passed ball to come back and tie the game in the 7th, but Ian Hamilton came in and hit Bobby Witt Jr with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th to force in the winning run. Tyler Glasnow got the start and a Vidal Brujan error cost him a run in the 1st, then KC picked up 3 runs with 2 out when the leadoff man in the inning should have been retired on a strikeout but Keibert Ruiz's passed ball allowed him to reach. Glasnow ended up 7 6 4 1 2 10 as he largely pitched well but did let things snowball after the passed ball. A Brandon Marsh RBI single in the 5th got the Rays on the board and then an Austin Meadows RBI double and a Nick Schnell infield single made it 4-3 in the 6th, before Meadows singled in Wander, who had doubled in the 7th, to tie it. Will Smith got through the 8th, and then in the 9th he remained in having only thrown 10 pitches. After a 1-out single, he got Khalil Lee to ground out moving the runner up to 2nd, so Xavier Edwards was intentionally walked to create a force and bring up lefty JJ Bleday. Bleday managed an infield single to load the bases, and Hamilton came in to face Witt, and the HBP on his first pitch immediately ended things. Meadows, Wander and Schnell each had 3 hits on the night but it wasn't enough. Tonight's loss equaled the number they had last season when they went 115-47.

Game 3: A pitchers' duel between Walker Buehler and Daniel Tillo, and the Rays had the edge with a 2-1 victory. Nick Schnell hit HR #17 in the 3rd and Austin Meadows blasted #28 in the 4th for the two Rays runs while Buehler overcame a bit of a rough start to go 8 5 1 1 1 6. Buehler allowed all 5 hits in the first 3 innings, including 3 in the 3rd when the Royals managed their only run. From there on out the Rays usually had at least one man on each inning but couldn't push anyone across, making it a tense game until the very end. Jasseel De La Cruz once again whiffed a pair in a perfect ninth to nail down the save, his 26th. Schnell was 2-2 with a walk and a stolen base to go with the homer to pace the offense while Buehler now evens his Rays record at 7-7, 4.02.

Team record: 88-47. Next up: An off-day followed by a weekend in the Windy City against the White Sox for 3 games.