Game Eighty-Seven: Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals

I hope you enjoyed the day off, back to business.

The St. Petersburg лучи will take on the Kansas City Royals this evening at Kauffman Stadium in the first game of this three-game set. The Royals took two out of three when these teams squared off at the Trop in May, so Kansas City can secure at least a split for the season series with a victory tonight.

Brady Singer will start for Kansas City. I covered his last start as well, which ended up being his best in a while. He pitched into the eighth inning for the first time this season and allowed just one run. That came against a punchless Marlins offense, however, and Singer will face a tougher task against the other team from his home state. He started against the Rays in their May series, laboring through five innings and allowing two runs, one of which was unearned.

Tampa Bay will counter with Zack Littell. Littell has bounced around the majors since 2018, but ever since being claimed off waivers by the Rays early last year, he has blossomed into a perfectly serviceable major league starting pitcher. He’s a slider-first pitcher that also mixes in a splitter, four-seamer, and sinker. He’s allowed a ton of flyballs this season, so hopefully the Royals can get some of those over the fence in the early-July heat.

There is a chance of showers tonight in the Kansas City metro — fingers crossed that this will not result in any delays or postponements.

First pitch: 7:10 pm CDT

Royals lineup

Rays lineup