Bobby Witt Jr. homered and tripled with three RBIs, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-4 on Sunday for their second victory in 10 games.
Witt and Drew Waters became the first Royals teammates to each triple and home run in the same game. In a game that lasted 1 hour, 54 minutes, Brady Singer (6-8) won for the second time in seven starts since June 4.
“The slider was really good, he had some good swings and misses, and also on the changeup, when he needed it,” Singer said.
He needed 70 pitches in seven innings and led 7-0 before Isaac Paredes hit a solo homer and Francisco Mejia hit a three-run homer for the AL’s top Rays (60-36).
“When you have a sinker that works like that and they put the ball on the ground early, it gives him a lot of confidence to be able to work quickly and be able to move through the game efficiently.” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.
Singer allowed four runs and seven hits in a season-high eight innings as Kansas City improved to 27-67, the second-worst record in the majors and trailing only Oakland.
“That’s a classic sinkerballer,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “You’re relying on late movement to put the ball down and that’s what happened. He just had a little extra movement today that made it a bit challenging for us.”
The early lead gave Singer the confidence to attack hitters.
“It prepared me to be able to stay in the area more,” he said. “I was definitely more aggressive with that advantage. I was staying in the area so much. Throwing so many strikes helped me get them to swing early.”
Zach Eflin (10-5) allowed five runs and a season-high seven hits in a season-low three innings, allowing hits to seven of his first 11 batters. The Rays had won three in a row after a season-worst seven-game losing streak.
“I had a pretty bad bullpen going into the game,” Eflin said. “I didn’t feel like I was in sync. The plumb line was not working. He couldn’t figure out where the ball was going. I knew something was wrong going into the game. I didn’t set the tone like I should have.”
In a game that started an hour later due to rain, Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Pérez left in the second inning after straining his left hamstring while scoring on Meléndez’s double. .
MJ Melendez hit a two-out RBI double in the first and the Royals opened up a 5-0 lead in the second. Waters hit an RBI triple and scored on Nick Pratto’s single. Witt, who has one extra-base hit in six straight games, hit a two-out, two-run triple.
“Seeing guys before me put together good at-bats gives you confidence,” Witt said. “I just try to simplify as much as possible and I just try to get a good swing at the ball.”
Waters led off the fourth against Yonny Chirinos with a 465-foot home run to the upper level of the right-field fountains.
Witt led off the fifth with his 16th homer and Melendez hit a solo shot in the eighth off Chirinos.