Karns carves up former team, Rays sloppy in 7-3 loss.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Nate Karns would return to the Trop as the enemy on Monday night. The Rays welcoming committee would jump on him early. Corey Dickerson led off the game with a shallow left field double after a towering pop up fell in despite the effort of the diving Alex Gordon. Brad Miller quickly followed with an RBI single to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
The Royals tied things up in the top of the third when catcher, Drew Butera, hit his first home run of the season to lead off. A half inning before, the Rays stranded Colby Rasmus on third after he led off with a triple. The inning got worse for Snell. After the home run, Alcides Escobar double into left. Lorenzo Cain followed with what turned into a trip around the bases when Kevin Kiermaier lets a ground ball single gets past him. The error led to two more runs and a 3-1 Royals lead.
Things looked promising, again, in the bottom of the third. The Rays loaded the bases on back-to-back walks of Dickerson and Miller and a single by Evan Longoria. Logan Morrison struck out and Steven Souza Jr grounded into a double play to end the threat and once again any chance of more runs for Tampa Bay.
Blake Snell’s night would be done after five-plus innings. It would mark the sixth time in his seven starts the 24-year old didn’t make it through more than five innings.
On his sixth-consecutive outing of five innings or less, Snell simply said it was an “interesting” start.
“Just have to keep going out there and competing,” he said.
Butera would hurt the Rays again with a two-out, RBI single into center to extend the Royals lead to 5-1 off Austin Pruitt.
K’s for Karns
Nathan Karns would completely stifle the Rays offense after the first inning. Through six, he had notched ten strikeouts, one run, and just five hits. The 10 punch-outs would tie a career-high for Karns.
Sloppy gets sloppier.
The Royals got another run in the top of the seventh when Derek Norris throw down to second skipped away allowing Lorenzo Cain to score from third. Eric Hosmer would get credit for his first stolen base of 2017 and it would be the second error of the night for the Rays catcher.
Miller would make a nice, sliding stop on a ground ball hit by Whit Merrifield. His throw, however, would pull Morrison off the bag, scoring another run for the Royals. It would be the fourth error of the game for the Rays defense, the first four error game since 2014.
It would take a bases loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh by Matt Strahm for the Rays to plate another run. Morrison would strike out for the third time in the game, leaving the bases loaded.
Colby Crush!
In the bottom of the eighth inning, down by five runs, Colby Rasmus crushed his second homer of the season to straight-away center. The problem? No ducks on the pond. The solo shot merely pulled the Rays to within four, 7-3.
Way back and gone!
After spending his morning at the VA, Colby will make a $1,000 donation to @TeamRubicon for the blast. #HittersForHeroes pic.twitter.com/cDejs4pwdj
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 9, 2017
That would be your final as Tampa Bay would get an infield single by Dickerson in the ninth and nothing more.
NOTES:
- Souza Jr left the game in the seventh inning due to a jammed thumb. X-Rays were negative and Cash says it isn’t serious.
- At 16-18, the Rays are two games under .500, matching a season-low.
- The Rays have blown a lead in 13 of their losses, most in MLB.
- Since 2012, the Royals have a staggering 26-8 record against the Rays after Monday’s win.
NEXT UP:
- Game two of the four-game series as the Rays send Matt Andriese (2-1, 3.09) to the hill. First pitch set for 7:10 PM from Tropicana Field.
