Meet the Opponent: Rays Look to Stay Hot Against Kansas City Royals

TAMPA, Fla. — The Kansas City Royals made the playoffs last year for the first time in nine years, and they were expecting more of the same this year. But they've been off to an uneven start through five weeks as they roll into Tampa to take on the Rays in a three-game series.

The Royals, led by former Tampa Bay bench coach Matt Quatraro, are 14-15 on the season and they've been very inconsistent. They've already had a six-game losing streak and a six-game winning streak — the only team in Major League Baseball to do that this season.

They just won six in a row before losing to Houston on Sunday, winning at Detroit, sweeping Colorado at home then winning the first two in the series with the Astros.

The Rays have been hot, too, winning five in a row on their recent road trip to Arizona and San Diego

Here are the projected pitching matchups for this week's series with the Royals and Rays:

Tuesday night, 7:05 p.m. ET: Kansas City's Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 3.90 ERA) vs. Tampa Bay's Taj Bradley (2-1, 5.08 ERA)
Wednesday night, 7:05 p.m. ET: Kansas City (TBA) vs. Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen (1-1, 2.10 ERA).
Thursday afternoon, 1:10 p.m. ET : Kansas City's Seth Lugo (2-30, 3.08 ERA) vs. Tampa Bay's Shane Baz (3-0, 2.45 ERA)

Here are three things to know about the Royals:

1. Bobby Witt Jr. is a superstar

There may be bigger names in the sport — like Aaron Judge or Juan Soto or Shohei Ohtani — but it's possible that none of them are better by Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. He's a great defensive player, and he's also hitting .315 so far, with an MLB-high 12 doubles.

Witt tears up the Rays. He was 10-for-25 with three homers a year ago, so the Rays will have to keep him in check this series.

2.Pitching has been mostly good

Kansas City has the fourth-best team ERA in the American League at 3.39, just ahead of the Rays, who are fifth. They've only allowed 26 homers in 29 games, also fourth-best in the AL. (The Rays are the worst, with 39)

The Royals still haven't announced a Wednesday starter, but we know a lot about Lorenzen and Lugo so far. Lorenzen won his last start against Colorado, allowing just one run on five hits, but walks have been something of an issue. He's walked three batters in a game twice, and walked four Rockies. He's had 11 total walks in 27 2/3 innings, and has allowed three home runs.

Lugo, a 35-year-old right-hander, was great in 2024, going 16-9. He;'s got a 1.08 WHIP and was really good in his last start, pitching eight scoreless innings and giving up just three hits in a win over Houston last Friday. And don't be fooled by that 2-3 record. In his three losses, the Royals have been shut out once and scored just one run in the other two games.

Kansas City's bullpen is middle of the pack, but here's an interesting stat. Their relievers only have 77 combined strikeouts, the worst in the American League. So the Rays should have a chance to move the ball around late in games.

3. Struggling on the road

The Royals are just 3-10 on the road so far this season, and they've lost every road series in 2025. This has been a bit of a surprise. And it's mostly because they aren't hitting on the road, scoring just 22 runs in 13 games.

Last year when the Royals won 86 games and made the playoffs as a wild-card, they went 41-40 on the road. They also swept the Orioles in Baltimore in the wild-card round. Kansas City also won two of three games against the Rays at Tropicana Field from May 24-26.

“We are leaning on each other pretty heavily right now,” Royals outfielder Vinnie Pasquantino said. “We're just try to get through this and keep moving forward. We don’t have a whole lot of time to be sad. We’ve got to get back out there.”