ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ One day after a furious rally put the Royals ahead late only to fall in extra innings, they took an early lead and let it slip away in the final three innings to drop the first game of their series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
A three-run seventh inning which capped a shaky night for Royals ace Brad Keller set the table for a 6-3 loss to the Rays in front of an announced 9,914 at Tropicana Field on Monday. The teams will continue the three-game set on Tuesday night.
Keller, making his first start since having been ejected last Wednesday in Chicago, allowed five earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. Five of the hits Keller gave up, including a home run, went for extra bases.
The Rays came into the week having lost four in a row, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. The sweep marked the Rays' first series loss of the season.
The Royals' first three runs came via solo home runs off the bats of Alex Gordon, Jorge Soler and Hunter Dozier _ each punished offerings from Rays pitcher Yonny Chirinos. Chirinos came into the day with a 3-0 record. Soler's fifth-inning home run tied him with Dozier for the team lead (six home runs) until Dozier went deep in the sixth inning for his seventh.
In four of his previous five games this season, Chirinos held opponents to one or zero runs. The Royals scored three in six innings.
Dozier also homered on Sunday in New York as part of the offensive explosion he's experienced of late. Entering the day, Dozier had batted .447 with a .553 on-base percentage and an .868 slugging percentage in his previous 11 games. Dozier came out of the game in the eighth inning due to lower back spasms. He's listed as day-to-day.
