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Royals Drop Series Finale Against Rays

By Ethan Evans |

7. 3. 21. Final. 2

The Kansas City Royals lost a close game on Sunday afternoon and were unable to complete a sweep against the Rays in Tampa Bay this weekend.

Unfortunately, the red-hot Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Detroit Tigers—which means they have closed to six games behind the KC Royals for home field advantage throughout the American League playoffs.

The Rays took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Brandon Guyer led off with a single and moved to second when Daniel Nava walked. Danny Duffy was able to get a strikeout and a fly ball to right field, but Joey Butler hit a two-out single to score a run.

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The Kansas City Royals took the lead by putting two on the board in the third inning. Omar Infante and Drew Butera hit back-to-back singles and Ben Zobrist followed up an Escobar strikeout with a single to score Infante. Lorenzo Cain hit the fourth single of the inning to score Butera and the Royals had a 2-1 lead.

The Rays tied the game back up quickly in the bottom of the inning via a leadoff home run by Brandon Guyer. The only other run scored in the game came in the sixth inning when Kevin Kiermaier hit a two-out solo homer to give the Rays a 3-2 lead.

A frustrating turn of events ruined a scoring chance for the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the eighth. Ben Zobrist led off with a walk. After Lorenzo Cain struck out, Eric Hosmer hit a single that put runners on the corners with one out and Kendrys Morales at the plate. Kendrys hit a bouncing ball down the first base line that looked as if it would go foul.

However, Rays first baseman James Loney fielded the ball before it crossed the line and threw home to get Zobrist at the plate. Morales was still standing right outside the batters box as he thought the pitch was going to be called foul and was then tagged out for a double play to end the inning.

That was as close as the Kansas City Royals got and they lost the game 3-2. They begin a series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.

Next: Kyle Zimmer Could Make Case for 2016 Rotation

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