Austin Pruitt bounced back from a pair of tough outings for a gem of a 6 IP/1 H/0 R start. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays scored 12 unanswered runs on Monday and snapped an eight-game losing streak at Kauffman Stadium (dating back to April 8, 2014) with a colossal 12-0, two-hit victory over the Royals. The Rays ended the night 2-1/2 games back of the Twins in the Wildcard race with 29 games left to play.


That’s a pretty convincing WPA graph. Source: FanGraphs

After Kevin Kiermaier reached on a bloop single, then ultimately scored on Evan Longoria’s sacrifice fly, the Rays took control in the third inning against right-hander Ian Kennedy. Adeiny Hechavarria sent a bullet to right for a double before Kiermaier worked a free pass. Lucas Duda followed with a three-run no doubter to right, his eighth with Tampa Bay, putting the Rays up by four.

Duda is in the throes of a 4-for-40 stretch, however, all four of those hits have been home runs.

Then after Evan Longoria and Morrison went back-to-back with doubles, subsequently extending the lead to 5-0, Wilson Ramos crushed a two-run blast to left-center for a seven run lead.

Ramos is now 17-for-his-last-40 over the last 11 games. His homer chased Kennedy, who has not won a game at Kauffman Stadium in a year.

Tampa Bay tacked on an additional run the following inning after Hechavarria tripled to right, then scored on a Kiermaier’s RBI single to center.

Eight runs of support were more than enough for Austin Pruitt, who posted one of his best big league performances. The right-hander bounced back from a pair of tough starts to allow just one runner into scoring position over his six innings of work. In fact, Pruitt gave up just one hit — a Lorenzo Cain double to right — and walked one, while fanning six.

Pruitt gave way to Matt Andriese (who was activated from the DL prior to the game) in the seventh. In spite of the massive lead, the right-hander was credited with a save in his first relief appearance since 2016. Like Pruitt, Andriese gave up just one hit — a Lorenzo Cain double to right — and a walk to Brandon Moss. He worked three innings in relief.

In the ninth inning, Cesar Puello plated a run with a pinch-hit RBI single to put the Rays up by nine, then Morrison crushed a two-out, three-run homer to right off reliever Kevin McCarthy to cap the scoring.

It was LoMo’s 32nd hom run of the season, and his third in two days.

At the end of the day, Kansas City now has been held scoreless for 43 straight innings … yet the Royals still find themselves just three-games out in the Wildcard race.

The New What Next

Alex Cobb (9-8, 3.69 ERA, 4.21 FIP) will get the start for the Rays in the second game of the series, and will pitch opposite of fellow righty Jake Junis (3-2, 4.47 ERA, 4.85 FIP).

Cobb will make his second start off the 10-day DL, and he looks to build on what he established against Toronto on Thursday. Despite pitching only into the fifth inning, thanks to a fair number of deep counts, the right-hander fanned five and allowed no runs, four hits and just one walk.

Junis was solid on Thursday against Colorado, allowing one run on seven hits, but worked only 5-1/3 innings. The 24 year-old right-hander faced the Rays over one inning of relief work in May, allowing no runs and two walks, while striking out two. This season Junis has relied upon a 92mph four-seam fastball with depth, and a whiffy 82mph slider. He’s also mixed in a 78mph curveball little depth and slight glove-side movement, a 91 mph sinker, and an 83mph changeup with surprising cut action. Key Matchup: Danny Espinosa (2-5, 2B, 3 RBI)

You can read about the series in our preview.

Rays 8/29/17 Starting Lineup

Kiermaier CF
Duda DH
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr. RF
Dickerson LF
Ramos C
Miller 2B
Hechavarria SS
Cobb RHP

Noteworthiness

— … That moment when you probably should have settled for a triple, but tried to stretch it into an inside-the-park homer instead. Oh Corey, you are not the Outlaw.

https://youtu.be/CrQtet-feVU

— Because of the Rays recent spate of good play, they have seen their odds of a Wildcard berth jump over the last week from 8% to just under 17% (per FanGraphs).

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