Gamethread LIV - Royals at Rays

Baseball’s hottest team looks to sweep the low-payroll, small-market Rays. Feels weird.

You saw that right. The Kansas City Royals, riding MLB’s longest active winning streak at eight games, enter Sunday with a chance to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays. Manager Matt Quatraro and bench coach Paul Hoover, both former long-time Rays, are pulling no punches against their former team. Kansas City has a +10 run differential in the series’ first two games, thanks to a blowout win on Friday and the bats coming alive in extra innings yesterday.

Pitcher Michael Wacha starts today for the Royals, looking to continue his hot streak of starts. The veteran looked vulnerable at the season’s start, going 1-4 with a 5.50 ERA to start the season. But, three consecutive quality starts make Wacha the hot hand on the mound today.

The Rays lineup is abysmal during their six-game losing streak, scoring two or fewer runs in four of those losses. That benefits Wacha and the fresh arms in Kansas City’s bullpen. Tampa Bay utilized all but one reliever, Friday’s bulk man Tyler Alexander, yesterday in the 11-inning battle. Sam Long, Will Smith, and Carlos Hernández give Kansas City a small rest edge that Quatraro needs to leverage.

All that to say this:

Kansas City Royals lineup

Today’s appearance marks veteran Adam Frazier’s 1,000th MLB game, spanning five franchises (h/t Royals Assistant Director, Media Relations Ian Kraft). Love him or hate him, that is a very impressive milestone, one that bad ballplayers do not reach.

Outfielder Nelson Velázquez moves up the lineup amidst his hot streak at the plate. Royals fans were rightfully calling for a demotion weeks ago, but the Puerto Rico native has turned his outlook around. Since the West Coast road trip’s end, he is hitting .261/.346/.565 in 26 plate appearances. He is red-hot in Florida, so playing him higher in the lineup makes sense.

Outfielder Kyle Isbel, who suffered a nasty injury Saturday, and second baseman Michael Massey, who exited the game Friday with back tightness, are both notably missing from Sunday’s lineup. Quatraro did not have a significant post-game update regarding Isbel, but the Royals placed Massey on the 10-day IL, with a low back ligament sprain.

Nick Loftin is back with the big-league club as the corresponding move, following a strong Triple-A stint. He slashed .309/.409/.521 across 24 games, good for a .930 OPS and 142 wRC+. Royals fans should be excited for the 25-year-old’s return, albeit under disappointing circumstances.

Tampa Bay Rays lineup

Rays righty Taj Bradley looks to put an odd start behind him and power Tampa Bay to a win. In his last start on Monday, Bradley struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced, mixing an overpowering fastball with a wicked offspeed arsenal. But, the visiting Boston Red Sox roughed up Bradley the second time through the order. They tagged him for five runs on five hits, including two two-run home runs. The Rays do not provide Bradley much run support, being shut out Monday night and twice overall in Bradley’s three starts this season.

Kansas City is chasing its first nine-game winning streak since July 19-28, 2017, and its sixth this century. Yes, even the 2002 Royals have a winning streak that long

Join us and fellow Royals fans in the comments below! If you are looking for something different, listen to Steve Stewart and Jake Eisenberg call today’s game on the radio. You can tune in on 610 Sports, the Audacy app, or MLB Audio too.