Mother Nature didn’t give the Royals a chance to blow another late-inning lead. Rain ended their game with the Devil Rays after the top of the seventh and gave them a much-needed 7-5 win.
The Royals, who have given away leads on numerous occasions this season, did it again in the early innings of Thursday’s game. Kansas City saw a 5-0 lead slip through their fingers. Emil Brown tripled in Matt Stairs for the first run of the game in the first. Later in the inning, John Buck drove in two runs with a double. Brown struck again in the third with a double to score Stairs again. Terrence Long made it 5-0 with an RBI single to score Brown.
In the top of the fourth, Tampa got to Jose Lima, who loaded the bases and walked Aubrey Huff for the Devil Rays’ first run. Later, Lima served up a two-out, bases-loaded single to Nick Green, which plated two more runs for the Rays. Alex Sanches followed up with another single to cut Kansas City’s lead to 5-4.
The Royals’ lead was gone by the fifth inning with Jorge Canto drove in Damon Hollins with an RBI Single. If they took one thing from their loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon, it was the ability to bounce back from deficits. In the top of the sixth Mark Teahen drove in a run with a double and Ruben Gotay followed him with an RBI single to make it 7-5. The rain poured in the Tampa half of the seventh and the game was called.
Lima, despite allowing five runs off seven hits and four walks, got his first win of the season.
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