Tyler Glasnow struck out 12 in five innings and the Tampa Bay Rays scored twice in the seventh inning tie to beat the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at St. Petersburg, Fla.
In the seventh inning, with the game tied 1-1, the Rays scored twice, taking the lead when Jose Siri came home on a wild pitch by reliever Taylor Clarke (1-2). Harold Ramirez’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1 as Royals center fielder Drew Waters prevented more damage with a diving catch for the third out.
Glasnow was dominant over five innings, allowing just one run on four hits with one walk. The right-hander matched Jeffrey Springs for the most strikeouts by a Rays pitcher in a game this season.
Rays left-hander Colin Poche (5-2) spun a scoreless seventh as five Tampa Bay pitchers limited Kansas City to four singles and recorded 17 strikeouts.
Rays leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz went 4-for-4, while Siri added a solo home run as the American League East-leading Rays earned a four-game series split with the Royals, who are last in the AL Central.
The Royals’ Maikel Garcia had a single, RBI and stole a base, while starter Daniel Lynch tossed gave up one run on six hits over six innings.
Following the worst of his five starts this season on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles, Glasnow opened Sunday’s game by striking out Nick Pratto, Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez.
He got out of trouble in the second after a double steal by Garcia and Edward Olivares put two runners in scoring position with one out for the Royals. Glasnow raced home, took a toss from catcher Christian Bethancourt and tagged out Garcia on a pitch that got away to the backstop. Then he struck out Waters swinging.
Siri led off the third with a home run for the second time in the series. His 14th tied him with Randy Arozarena for the team lead.
After Witt singled for the Royals and stole his 23rd base in the fourth, he scored on Garcia’s two-out single to tie the game.
Rays closer Pete Fairbanks walked the leadoff batter in the ninth before recording his eighth save.
–Field Level Media