[Art Deco]

Game 1: It was a struggle but the Rays got back into the win column for the first time in five games with a 5-4 decision over Kansas City. Dayle Jenkins' sac fly after Will Quintana set things up with a double in the bottom of the 8th broke a 4-4 tie to give Tampa Bay the win. Josh Hanna started and wasn't his best, going 5 7 4 3 2 5 and surrendering a couple of homers to put the Rays in a 4-2 hole. But the bullpen was excellent from there with Eric Riley, Billy Hoyte and Tim Siqueiros (who got the win) getting it done through the 8th. Kikuo Kawase had a 1-2-3 9th for save #6. Chris Peters was 2-4 with an RBI and Jaiden Hardaway, off to a slow start at .216, had a big 2-run single in the 6th to tie it up.

Game 2: A 3-homer, 4-run 6th inning was the difference as the Rays broke a 3-3 tie and went on to wallop the Royals 11-3 at Publix Park. Danny Ayala led off the inning with #10 to break the tie, Jon Jimenez hit a 2-run shot (#9) and Jeff Baez followed with a solo jack (#4) to put the Tampa Bay ahead to stay, and they tacked on 4 more in the 8th on a Baez double, a 2-run Mike McKee double, and Dayle Jenkins' 2nd RBI double of the day. Earlier Victor de Jesus hit #5 with a man on in the 1st to give them an early lead. On the mound Nate Thompson had an up-and-down start, finishing 5.1 7 3 3 2 8 and allowing a pair of homers. He left with a man on, Danny Medina got an out and put two more on to load the bases and Billy Hoyte came through with the biggest out of the game in the top of the 6th by getting Jerry Bowman (who had homered off Thompson earlier) to hit into a fielder's choice to end the threat. Hoyte pitched the 7th and earned his 2nd win of the season while Willie Bertone went 2 clean innings with 4 whiffs.

Game 3: A rough conclusion to the series as Kansas City took a 5-3 win over the Rays who mounted a too-little, too-late comeback attempt. Ron Adams started and was pitching his best game of the year to date (4.2 3 1 1 1 6) before having to leave with a bone spur in his elbow which will sideline him for 3 weeks. Eric Riley took over and got through the 5th but in the 6th he put two men and young KC up-and-comer Jonathan Vaughn hit his 2nd HR of the game, a 3-run shot to break it open. A couple of errors led to another run in the inning as Riley went 2 1/3 with the 3 ER allowed and Bob Sirna went the final 2 scoreless with 4 Ks. The bats were silenced until the 8th when Omar Rodriguez led off with his 4th HR of the year and they loaded the bases for Jon Jimenez but his deep fly to left was caught short of the wall for a sac fly instead of a grand slam. Jaiden Hardaway tripled in a run in the 9th to make it interesting but Victor de Jesus whiffed to end the game.

Team record: 18-7, only 2 up on Boston which is off to a 16-9 start including the sweep of the Rays over the weekend. Next up: Two off days (???) followed by a pair of games in Boston.