Kansas City Royals vs Tampa Bay Rays Match Player Stats On Apr 23, 2019

The Tampa Bay Rays chased Kansas City starter Homer Bailey four batters -- and four runs --into the second inning in a 5-2 victory over the Royals on Tuesday night in Tampa. The Rays have won 10 straight games against the Royals, who have lost five straight overall.

The Rays have the best record in baseball at 16-8, while the Royals have the worst record at 7-17. It was just the fourth time this season, however, that the Royals did not held a lead at some point in the game.

The Rays got just 1 1/3 innings from opener Ryne Stanek, but that was expected. His longest outing of the season is two innings. The first reliever out of the bullpen, Jalen Beeks (1-0), picked up the win with a season-high 4 2/3 innings. He gave up just two hits and struck out seven while giving up two hits and no runs.

Emilio Pagan, who picked up his first major league save Monday, picked up his second save with a scoreless ninth.

Bailey (2-2) took the loss for Kansas City. He gave up those four runs on three hits and four walks in one-plus innings. He did not strike out a batter.

This game essentially was over early as the Rays jumped on Bailey in the bottom half of the first. Bailey walked the first two batters before getting Yandy Diaz to ground into a double play. But Joey Wendle singled in Brandon Lowe.

The Rays got three more runs in the second. After walking Kevin Kiermaier, Bailey gave up back-to-back singles to Daniel Robertson and Mike Zunino, the second driving in a run. He then walked Willy Adames, loading the bases with no outs, and his night was done. Jake Newberry replaced Bailey and gave up an RBI single and sacrifice fly, both runs charged to Bailey.

Zunino homered in the bottom of the sixth inning to increase the lead to 5-0. It's the second straight game he's homered against the Royals, his first two games since returning from paternity leave.

Martin Maldonado hit a 425-foot home run with one out in the seventh to get Kansas City on the board. It was his first home run since joining the Royals in the offseason. Adalberto Mondesi scored Kansas City's other run from second base on a wild pitch in the eighth inning.

--Field Level Media