TAMPA, Fla. — Bobby Witt Jr. homered to extend his hitting streak to 22 games and had three RBIs, Seth Lugo pitched solid six innings and the Kansas City Royals earned a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays with an 8-2 victory on Thursday.
Vinnie Pasquantino had a single, a double and two RBIs for the Royals, who have won nine of their past 10.
The crowd of 8,794 was the first non-sellout in 22 games this season for the Rays at Steinbrenner Field.
Mikael Garcia hit a line-drive double to center field for the Royals, stole third base and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Massey to tie it 1-1 in the fourth.
Lugo (3-3) gave up two runs and five hits with five strikeouts. Daniel Lynch IV, Angel Zerpa and Chris Stratton each threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Royals.
Shane Baz (3-1) gave up seven runs and nine hits with three walks over 5 2/3 innings and had his ERA increase from 2.45 to 3.86.
Yandy Díaz hit a solo homer in the first for the Rays. Jonathan Aranda added an RBI single in the sixth.
Salvador Perez (hip soreness) left the game in the seventh inning. The 34-year-old catcher was in the lineup at designated hitter, replaced behind the plate by Freddie Fermin. Perez hit an RBI double in the fifth and Fermin had a double, a single and scored twice.
