ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Griffin Jax pitched five strong innings, Yandy Díaz tied Tampa Bay’s franchise record for career RBIs and the Rays defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on Wednesday night.
Jax (3-5) struck out seven while allowing two unearned runs and five hits. It was his fourth start in a row with at least five innings pitched and less than two earned runs allowed. Bryan Baker gave up a run in the ninth, but closed it out for his 20th save.
Díaz hammered a line drive to left field in the fourth inning to tie B.J. Upton’s franchise mark of 447 RBIs and give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead. Jonny DeLuca followed with an RBI double.
Nick Fortes and Díaz opened the scoring in the third when they both scored after Royals first baseman Jac Caglianone fielded Ryan Vilade’s grounder and stepped on the bag for the out — but then his throw home went wide of catcher Salvador Perez. Jonathan Aranda added a one-run single to put the Rays up 3-0.
Noah Cameron (4-5) gave up all five runs on eight hits in five innings for the Royals.
Kansas City scored two runs in the top of the fifth when Carter Jensen and Caglianone scored on consecutive errors by shortstop Taylor Walls and left fielder Chandler Simpson. Josh Rojas added his first homer of the season in the ninth to pull within 5-3.
Jensen extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single on the first pitch of the game.
Up next
Royals RHP (3-4, 3.69 ERA) faces Rays LHP Ian Seymour (3-1, 4.98 ERA) in the series finale Thursday.
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