How sweet it is as the Tampa Bay Rays continued their onslaught throughout the American League, sweeping the Kansas City Royals in a three-game series on the road.
Shane Baz was just the latest Rays pitcher to take down Kansas City, and he did it convincingly, 4-0, on Thursday afternoon to ensure that three-game sweep of the Royals. Baz pitched eight innings of three-hit ball with nine strikeouts.
Two rookies helped the Rays score their first runs in the fourth inning as Jonathan Aranda doubled, and then Jake Mangum tripled, scoring Aranda to put the Rays up 1-0. Josh Lowe then singled to center, scoring Mangum, and the Rays led 2-0. Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero also homered in the sixth inning to give the Rays a 4-0 lead. Paul Gervase and Pete Fairbanks would shut down the Royals in the ninth to preserve the shutout for Baz.
The Rays’ pitching allowed just one run over the three games in Kansas City. Drew Rasmussen threw five innings of shutout baseball Wednesday night to get his seventh win of the season. Taj Bradley was outstanding Tuesday night as he had his best outing of the season, giving up two hits in six and two-thirds innings of shutout ball.
Offensively, there is not a team in baseball that is playing better ball than the Rays right now. Tampa had 33 hits in the series, scoring just 11 runs as the Rays stranded 19 runners. The rest of the league must stop dismissing this Rays team and start paying attention. This is one of the most complete Rays teams we’ve seen in recent memory and they will be a handful for whatever team they are matched up with in the playoffs.
Tampa has the best record against teams with a .500 record, going 24-14 so far this season. The next closest team is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are 26-20 against teams with a .500 record or better.
The Rays continue to pressure the New York Yankees, who are in first place in the AL East. The Rays are just one-half game behind the Yankees for the division lead. The last time the Rays had a share of first place in the division was July 19, 2023.
The Rays also continue to have the best road record in baseball. They are 19-12 away from Steinbrenner Field and will have a chance to add to that record this weekend in Baltimore.
With their play over the last month, the Rays now lead the league in hitting with a .257 average. The pitching staff is now sixth in the league with a 3.47 ERA. Tampa is 47-36 on the season and are 11 games over .500 for the first this season.
As the Rays turn the page on the first half of the season, the team is looking to build on the momentum they built in the first half, and enjoy even more success.
Despite the slow start, the Rays kicked it in the middle of May and have not looked back.
Great pitching, both starting and out of the bullpen, and an offense that will do whatever it takes to win, along with power, speed, and little ball, have all contributed to the Rays’ meteoric rise to the top of the American League and have become one of the best teams in baseball.
This team is only going to get better. We could see shortstop Ha-Seong-Kim finally make his Rays debut this weekend. Shane McClanahan should be back for the stretch run. This team is only going to get better.
The Rays continue their march through the American League East this weekend with a three-game series against the Orioles. Ryan Pepiot, Zack Littell, and Taj Bradley will pitch for the Rays against the O’s.