Gameday Preview (Thursday): Rays Look to Sweep Royals With Shane Baz on Mound

The Tampa Bay Rays have won five straight road games, and they look for consecutive sweeps on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City. Here are the batting orders, a great breakdown of the starting pitchers and newsy daily fantasy nuggets.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Shane Baz is tied for the team lead in wins with seven, and he looks for No. 8 Thursday at Kansas City. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball since May 20, and they are 10 games over .500 for the first time. They've gotten there thanks to a five-game road winning streak, and they look to keep that going on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City.

The Rays and Royals compete their three-game series with a matinee at Kauffman Stadium. Tampa Bay has won the first two, grabbing a 5-1 victory on Tuesday night and a 3-0 shutour on Wednesday.

That was their seventh shutout of the season, which is tied for fifth in the American League. It was the Rays' first shutout of the Royals since 2018. The Royals are struggling right now. They've lost nine straight home games dating back to May 31.

Here are the details on Thursday's game:

How to watch Rays-Royals

• Who: Tampa Bay Rays (45-35) at Kansas City Royals (38-42)
• When: Thursday, June 26 at 2:10 p.m. ET
• Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.
• TV: FanDuel Sports Sun
• Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM/620 AM, WQBN 106.7/1300 AM (Spanish)
• Betting information: The Rays are favored on the money line at HardRockBet.com at minus-115, and the Royals' money line odds are plus-105. On the run line, you can bet the Rays minus-1.5 at plus-130 odds, and the Royals plus-1.5 runs at minus-165 odds. The over/under is 10.5 runs.

Here are the starting lineups for both teams:

Rays batting order

1. Yandy Diaz DH
2. Brandon Lowe 2B
3. Junior Caminero 3B
4. Jonathan Aranda 1B
5. Jake Mangum LF
6. Josh Lowe RF
7. Matt Thaiss C
8. Taylor Walls SS
9. Chandler Simpson CF

Royals batting order

1. Jonathan India 2B
2. Bobby Witt Jr. SS
3. Vinnie Pasquantino 1B
4. Maikel Garcia 3B
5. Nick Loftin LF
6. Jac Caglianone RF
7. Mark Canha DH
8. Freddie Fermin C
9. Drew Waters CF

Pitching matchup

• SHANE BAZ, Tampa Bay Rays: Shane Baz is 7-3 with a 4.79 earned run average. ... The 26-year-old right-hander from Houston is making his 16th start of the season and second against the Royals, an 8-2 loss on May 1 that was his worst outing of the season. He gave up seven earned runs in the loss, getting knocked out in the sixth inning. .... Baz has throw 105 and 106 pitches in his last two starts, but they were dramatically different outings. On June 15, he pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the New York Mets, allowing just three hits in the 9-0 win. But on June 20, he gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings against Detroit, but still got the win in the 14-8 slugfest. ... The one common denominator in those two starts? He walked four batters in both games. He needs to have better control on Thursday, for sure.

• MICHAEL LORENZEN, Kansas City Royals: Michael Wacha, a 33-year-old right-hander from Anaheim, Calif., is making his 16th start of the season. He's 4-7 thus far, with a 4.81 ERA. ... Lorenzen beat the Rays on April 29 in Tampa, going six innings and allowing just one run and four hits in the 3-1 win. ... His only blemish in that start was a solo home run by Junior Caminero. ... Since that win over the Rays, Lorenzen is just 1-4, with his only victory coming against the lowly Chicago White Sox. He has a 5.,73 ERA in his last nine starts,.

Newsy Rays-Royals nuggets

• DAILY FANTASY WINNERS: This is the highest over/under in a Rays game all season, which is probably based on Baz's shaky start vs. the Orioles and Lorenzen's recent struggles. Sure seems like a lot of runs though, especially considering that the Royals have only scored once in the first two games of this series.

• DIAZ HITTING STREAK: Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz has a 15-game hitting streak going, the longest active streak in the major leagues. What are the chances in continues on Thursday? Well, he is 2-for-4 all-time against Royals starter Michael Lorenzen. Junior Caminero went 2-for-3 against Lorenzen in the spring, including a solo homer. ... For the Royals, Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. both have career home runs vs. Baz.

• ANOTHER BLOWOUT WIN? Each of the Rays' last 10 games have been decided by three runs or more, tied for the second-longest streak in team history behind a 13-game run from July 17-29, 2007. ... It's a unique stat for sure, because this comes after each of their previous nine games had a margin of two runs or fewer from June 4-13.