KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield looked to the sky, clapped his hands and let his shoulders sag as he crossed the plate in the bottom of the third inning Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
One run lit up the scoreboard behind him, the first the Royals had scored in 45 innings. Seconds earlier, he had homered on a 1-1 pitch, turning a fastball from Rays starter Alex Cobb into a solo shot to give the Royals their first lead in four games.
It was the first sigh of relief in what became a 6-2 victory for the Royals.
The second exhale came in the fifth, when Mike Moustakas drove in his first run since Aug. 16 against the Athletics in Oakland. Jorge Bonifacio gave the Royals a bit more breathing room in the sixth with a 419-foot blast of his own, one that would keep starter Jake Junis in line for the sixth win of his career even when the Rays cut a two-run lead in half.
Eric Hosmer added three runs of insurance when he cranked his 22nd homer of the season.
And in the end, the Royals snapped a five-game losing streak and a scoreless drought, showing resilience on a day that could have been the worst in an already-tough month. The Royals are 10-17 in August, their first sub-.500 month since they started the season 10-20. They have gone from two games out of first place to 9 { games behind the American League Central-leading Indians, who were rained out Tuesday.
Adding to the drama, ace Danny Duffy spoke hours earlier about his citation for driving under the influence.
Instead of folding under the "distraction," as Duffy referred to his situation in that press conference, the Royals rallied.
For the second start in a week, Junis showed poise on the mound. He struck out a career-high eight batters in 5 2/3 innings and scattered three hits. After allowing a first-inning walk, he retired 11 straight. Corey Dickerson broke through for the Rays' first hit of the game in the fifth.
Manager Ned Yost removed Junis after Kevin Kiermaier reached third on a two-out single by Evan Longoria in the sixth inning. Reliever Scott Alexander allowed the lead runner to score on his second pitch, which the left-handed Logan Morrison dumped into center field for a single. The run was charged to Junis.
Alexander gave up a walk, but got out of the inning relatively unscathed. The Rays threatened to tilt the scoreboard out of the Royals' favor when reliever Brandon Maurer left an 88 mph slider in the lower third of the zone for the Rays' Brad Miller, who roped it into right field for a solo homer in the seventh.
But Hosmer's three-run, 408-foot rocket to left-center field in the bottom of the inning made sure that the Royals could gain a game on Tampa Bay in the wild-card race.
