For the second straight night, the Tampa Bay Rays were blown out in Kansas City. The Royals put eight runs up on the board for the second time in as many games. While it was Alex Cobb who was forced to wear it in a complete game on Monday, Chris Archer and Brandon Gomes were the ones who were shelled in Game 2. Archer went 5.2 innings, giving up three earned runs in a big third-inning rally by Kansas City. The Royals blew it open after consecutive errors by Sean Rodriguez and then Yuniesky Betancourt rocketed a two-run homer to left to give KC a lead they would not relinquish.
That 4-2 lead would hold until Gomes came on in what would be the Royals' last at-bat. He would retire just one Royal in a catastrophic eighth inning. Four hits, two walks, and four funs poured it on and removed all chances of a ninth inning comeback by Tampa. A Jeff Francoeur three-run shot pushed the lead to 8-2 and capped the scoring on the evening.
The Rays will try to avoid the sweep Wednesday afternoon with Matt Moore on the mound.
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