Rays at Royals
Two struggling teams on the business end of blowouts in their last outings look to regain their footing on Monday when the visiting Tampa Bay Rays open a three-game series versus the Kansas City Royals. Tampa Bay was blitzed for 17 runs and 19 hits on Sunday en route to its sixth loss in seven outings. while Kansas City fell for the fourth time in five contests with an 11-2 setback in Cleveland.
Wilson Ramos saw his 18-game hitting streak come to halt in Sunday's 17-1 shellacking, but C.J. Cron pushed his current run to six games, during which he is 10-for-25 with a homer and three RBIs. Neither player enjoyed much success against the Royals last year as Ramos went 2-for-12 versus Kansas City and Cron went 1-for-9 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Whit Merrifield erupted for three homers among his seven hits in 2017 against Tampa Bay and carries a seven-game hitting streak into Monday's encounter. The 29-year-old had an RBI single in Sunday's rubber match against the Indians to improve to 11-for-26 with four runs scored during his hitting streak.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays LH Ryan Yarbrough (2-2, 4.30 ERA) vs. Royals LH Eric Skoglund (1-2, 6.34)
Yarbrough answered a sterling five-inning performance on May 4 with a disastrous one on Wednesday, as he allowed five runs on six hits in a 5-2 setback against Atlanta. The 26-year-old lamented missing the target on what was expected to be a fastball away, which resulted in a three-run homer to Nick Markakis to cap a four-run third inning. The blast was the third in five appearances permitted by Yarborough, who will be receiving his first look at Kansas City.
Skoglund received his second straight no-decision on Wednesday after yielding three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings at Baltimore. The 25-year-old has been taken deep in three straight outings and five of six this season, including in his lone win of the season in which he allowed just two hits over seven frames versus the Chicago White Sox on April 28. Like Yarbrough, Skoglund will be making his first career appearance against Tampa Bay.
WALK-OFFS
1. Kansas City C Salvador Perez has eight hits - including three homers - 11 RBIs and six runs scored in his last seven games.
2. Tampa Bay LF Denard Span had an RBI single in Sunday's finale versus the Orioles to give him five hits in his last five outings.
3. The Royals open a six-game stretch at Kauffman Stadium with just six wins at home, which is tied for second-fewest among all major-league teams.