Shane Baz Roughed Up, Royals Complete Sweep of Rays With 8-2 Rout

TAMPA, Fla. — Shane Baz has been so good all season for the Tampa Bay Rays that it seemed a bit odd to see him struggling so much on Wednesday.

A 3-0 start to his 2025 campaign seemed like a distant memory after he gave up seven runs in five-plus innings in an 8-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals. It was the third straight loss for the Rays (14-7), and seemed untimely considering they had just one five straight games on the most recent West Coast trip.

The Royals got their first sweep in Tampa Bay since 1998, the Rays' first year in St. Petersburg as an expansion team, and their first sweep at all vs. the Rays since 2016.

It was an ugly three days. They lost 3-1 and 3-0, and the three runs in the series were their fewest since a sweep to Houston in 2022. They were just 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position in the series and never really put up much of a fight. Kansas City is 17-15 now, and has won nine of 10.

"We're just having too many empty at-bats. We're letting pitchers settle in too much at times,'' frustrated Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We had too many early outs not competing in the at-bat like we're capable of doing. Lugo made some good pitches, but I feel like we can do a better job of putting more pressure on a pitcher.

"We'll continue to talk to them about different scenarios. They're pretty mindful, and they know the situation. It's puzzling slash that's baseball sometimes. It's frustrating, because we just showed better on this last trip.''

In Baz's three winnings, he had great command, recording 28 stirkeouts with just one walk. But on Thursday, he didn't quite have same command. Nine of his first 11 pitchers were balls. He faced 29 batters, but gave up nine hits and three walks.

He was frustrated, too.

"I've just got to make better quality pitches 0-0, 1-0, 0-1,'' Baz said at his locker in the Rays clubhouse after the game. ''I just never settled in and never took advantage of the defense bailing me out., It's on me, I've got got to bear down and make better pitches.

"When I missed, i missed in the middle part of the plate or it was ball. I can't have that.''

The Rays got the early lead with a Yandy Diaz home run in the first, his fourth of the year. He's been hitting much better after a slow start, going 13-for-32 — a nifty .406 average — in the past eight days.

The Royals started doing damage in the fourth inning. Third baseman Maikel Garcia doubled to center, stole third and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Massey to make it 1-1.

The Royals jumped all over Baz in the fifth. Freddy Fermin opened the inning with a double, and then star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run homer. Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez then followed with doubles of their own, and it was quickly 4-1.

"I thought he did a good job of navigating some trouble early on, but I felt like that fifth inning where they really capiitalized on some balls there left more middle midde,'' Cash said. "That part of the lineup, starting with Bobby, they've got some good hitters in that part of the lineup. They got pitches they could handle and they did some damage.''

The game got completely out of hand in the sixth. Baz gave up two walks and a hit by Fermin, and the bases were loaded. Cash took Baz out for Eric Orze, but all three runs soon came in. He hit Witt with a pitch and then Pasquantino had a two-run single to make it 7-1.

The Rays got a run in the sixth when Chandler Simopson got on with an infield single and socred on an RBI single by Jonathan Aranda. But that was it.

The Rays are now 9-13 and home and have lost eight of nine at Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home in 2025. They're off to see their landlords for the weekend, taking on the New York Yankees for three games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.