One version of this series concludes with Kansas City feeling pretty good about itself. Jac Caglianone’s two home runs helped the Royals win 12-5 after two games, and it appeared to be the kind of midweek series that subtly gains momentum that no one notices until later. Then, at Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay turned the four-game set into a split that no one on the Royals side would want to play again. They flipped it, and flipped it hard, finishing with a 13-2 blowout.
Junior Caminero made headlines, and rightfully so. The third baseman for the Rays tied a franchise record and recorded his sixth multi-homer game in his career by going 3-for-5 with three home runs and six RBIs. After hitting Seth Lugo twice—once for two runs in the first and once for a solo blast in the fifth—he added a third off position player, Tyler Tolbert, in the ninth, by which time the game had ceased to be a contest. A hitter doesn’t prepare for a night like this. Everyone in his immediate vicinity seems to be able to sense it as it happens.
But it wasn’t Caminero that made the game truly bizarre. For the majority of the afternoon, Tampa Bay’s pitching staff flirted with a combined no-hitter. The first sixteen Kansas City hitters were retired in order by starter Ian Seymour and opener Casey Legumina before Starling Marte drew a walk in the sixth, giving the Royals their first real hope. In a 13-2 final, Seymour’s final line of 6.2 innings, seven strikeouts, and just one walk is easy to ignore, but it merits more attention than it will likely receive.
It wasn’t until the ninth inning that Kansas City’s lone hit came in, and when it did, it carried some weight. In a difficult Royals season, Carter Jensen has been one of the few reliable bright spots. He hit Craig Kimbrel deep for a two-run home run to right. It gave the Royals their lone runs of the day and ended the no-hit attempt. Through June, Jensen has been on an incredible hitting streak, and there’s something almost obstinate about a player continuing to produce in a lineup that only managed one hit in nine innings.
Tampa Bay’s Victor Mesa Jr. contributed a three-run home run in the fourth inning, and Yandy Diaz continued his own hitting streak with a double, subtly approaching a career RBI total that has been brought up numerous times this month in the Rays clubhouse. By the end of the innings, none of it had to matter. By the fourth inning, Kansas City had already lost the game, and Tolbert’s unusual turn on the mound in relief, giving up five runs in his one inning, only made the deficit worse.
Considering how uneven this finale felt in comparison to the entire series, it’s worth taking a moment. Kansas City appeared to be the superior team two games prior. By Thursday, Caminero’s bat and Tampa Bay’s depth of pitchers completely dispelled that impression. Baseball does this more often than its supporters would like to acknowledge, rewarding perseverance over four games rather than evaluating anything based on a single afternoon. The Rays begin a home series against Arizona, while the Royals travel to Chicago to play the White Sox. Both teams are probably relieved to be leaving Tropicana Field for very different reasons.
