ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Royals wrapped up their 10-game road swing with a 10-run performance.
Jakob Junis handcuffed the Tampa Bay Rays lineup for five innings before taking a line drive off his hand and leaving with a seven-run lead, and the Royals offense kept applying pressure in a 10-2 victory in front of an announced crowd of 9,502 Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field.
The Royals (8-17) avoided a three-game sweep and snapped a five-game losing streak. They have an off day followed by a return to their home ballpark on Friday night to face the LA Angels.
KC recorded a season-high in runs and swatted 14 hits.
Adalberto Mondesi went 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBIs, his third career game with four RBIs. Whit Merrifield reached base four times, including two walks, and also hit a home run. Billy Hamilton also had two hits and two RBIs, while Terrance Gore, Cam Gallagher and Jorge Soler collected two hits apiece.
Junis (2-2) struck out six and allowed one run on four hits and two walks in five innings.
The Rays, who've outscored opponents 25-4 in the first inning of games this season, gave Blake Snell an early lead courtesy of a Brandon Lowe leadoff single and a two-out RBI double from Joey Wendle. The Rays led 1-0 after the first.
In the Royals half of the second inning, speed giveth and taketh away. Ryan O'Hearn walked, advanced on a single by Gore and scored on a slow roller towards hit by Hamilton toward third base. Hamilton's speed forced the charging third baseman to rush a high throw that got past the first baseman for an error and allowed O'Hearn to score from second.
That left Gore on third and Hamilton on first, arguably the two fastest players (along with Mondesi) on the on the corners, with leadoff hitter Merrifield at the plate. After a pair of throws to first, Hamilton drew a pick-off attempt and started a brief rundown that ultimately ended in an inning-ending double play.
Before Hamilton got to second, Gore strayed from third and then broke early for home. Rays first baseman Brandon Lowe threw home and got Gore caught in a rundown between home and third. Meanwhile, Hamilton arrived at second safely and then wandered towards third in hopes of advancing while Gore remained in a rundown. Instead Gore got tagged out and the defense wisely threw to second in time to tag Hamilton.
The next inning, Merrifield started the inning with a towering solo home run to give the Royals a 2-1 lead through three innings.
Speed played a huge factor in the Royals tacking on two more in the fourth inning. Chris Owings walked and stole second base, advanced on a ground out and then scored on the first of back-to-back bunt singles by Gallagher and Gore. Hamilton's RBI double into the right field corner scored Gallagher to put the Royals up 4-1.
The Royals stretched out their lead thanks to a four-run sixth inning highlighted by Hamilton's RBI triple to left-center field and a three-run home run crushed by Mondesi. The Royals led 8-1 when Junis left the game to start the seventh inning.
O'Hearn's sacrifice fly pushed the ninth run across in the seventh inning. Merrifield scored on a Mondesi single in the eighth to get to 10 runs. The Rays strung together three singles to drive in a run in the seventh against reliever Ian Kennedy for their second run.
