Gameday Preview (Tuesday): Critical Start for Rays' Taj Bradley in Series Opener vs. Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Taj Bradley has made 61 starts for the Tampa Bay Rays, and he makes No. 62 on Tuesday night when the Rays take on the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. It might be the most important game of his career.

It's important because Bradley has been struggling this month, with three straight rough starts where he hasn't gotten past the fourth inning. He's given up at least five runs in each start, and didn't make it out of the second inning on Wednesday against Baltimore, allowing seven runs and only getting four outs.

A lot of Rays fans are wondering he's still in the Rays' rotation, so he can soothe a lot of nerves with a good outing on Tuesday. The game starts at 7:40 p.m. ET.

Here are the details on the game:

How to watch Rays-Royals

Who: Tampa Bay Rays (43-35) at Kansas City Royals (38-40)
When: Tuesday, June 24 at 7:40 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 Royals are favored on the money line at HardRockBet.com at minus-140, and the Rays' money line odds are plus-120. On the run line, you can bet the Royals minus-1.5 at plus-130 odds, and the Rays plus-1.5 runs at minus-165 odds. The over/under is 8.5 runs.

Here are the starting lineups for both teams:

Rays batting order

Yandy Diaz 1B
Curtis Mead 2B
Junior Caminero 3B
Jonathan Aranda DH
Jake Mangum LF
Jose Caballero RF
Danny Jansen C
Taylor Walls SS
Chandler Simpson CF

Royals batting order

Jonathan India 2B
Bobby Witt Jr. SS
Maikel Garcia 3B
Vinnie Pasquantino 1B
Salvador Perez C
Jac Caglianone RF
Drew Waters LF
John Rave DH
Kyle Isbel CF

Pitching matchup

TAJ BRADLEY, Tampa Bay Rays: Taj Bradley is 4-5 with a 4.95 earned run average. ... The 24-year-old Los Angeles native is making his 16th start of the season and is 0-1 this month with a 7.16 ERA. ... Bradley faced Kansas City earlier this year, and actually pitched well, giving up just two runs in seven innings in a 3-1 loss. ... Opposing 3-4-5 hitters have batted just.165 against Bradley — 17-for-103 — and it's the lowest mark among qualified major-league pitchers, ahead of Detroit's Tarik Skubal (.171).

KRIS BUBIC, Kansas City Royals: Kris Bubic, a 27-year-old left-hander from Cupertino, Calif., is making his 15th start of the season. He's 6-4 thus far, with a 2.12 ERA, fourth-best in the American League. ... Bubic, who is in his sixth season with the Royals, did not pitch in the first series in Tampa. ... He lasted faced the Rays on Aug. 20, 2023, giving up four runs in 3 2/3 innings in a 5-2 loss.

Newsy Rays-Royals nuggets

DAILY FANTASY WINNERS: Tampa Bay's Yandy Diaz, who's playing first base Tuesday night, has a 13-game hitting streak going. Odds are good it will continue, because he is 4-for-5 all-time against Bubic. Rays catcher Danny Jansen is 0-for-5 against him. For Kansas City, they've all struggled against Bradley. Of the seven batters in the lineup who've faced Bradley, they are just a combined 3-for-29 against him. That's a tiny .103 average.

FAST STARTS FOR RAYS: The Rays have won nine consecutive series openers, tied for the second-longest streak in club history. The other time they did it was from July 25 to Aug. 22, 2023. The longest streak every also was in 2023, and lasted 11 series from April 21 to May 26. The was the year the Rays won 99 games.

MEAD ON A MAJOR ROLL: Rays infielder Curtis Mead has reached base safely in nine consecutive plate appearances, with three singles, a triple, four walks and a hit by pitch. It's one shy of the franchise record shared by Randy Arozarena (May 20-22, 2022), Yandy Díaz (Aug. 20-23, 2023) and Ji-Man Choi (Sept. 11-12, 2019). Six other Rays are tied with Mead at nine.