ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jordan Lyles hasn’t had much to smile about this season.
That finally changed Saturday.
Lyles ended a 15-game winless streak and the lowly Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 for their second victory in three days against the team with the best record in the majors.
“He had a big smile on his face when we came up the stairs (postgame),” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “The guys were ribbing him a little bit. He’s got a lot of pride in what he does. He’s handled himself tremendously well through this streak, so it feels really good for him.”
Lyles (1-11) allowed four runs and eight hits over six innings. It was his first victory since his final start last year on Sept. 30 while playing for the Baltimore Orioles.
“It feels really good,” Lyles said. “Even more so just how well we played all the way around team-wise. Just a really good team all around win.”
Drew Waters, Freddy Fermín and Edward Olivares homered for the Royals, who have the second-worst record in the majors at 22-55.
Lyles retired his final eight batters before relievers Carlos Hernández worked a 1-2-3 seventh and Nick Wittgren went two perfect innings.
Tampa Bay (53-27) is 5-7 over its last 12 games including two losses to Oakland, which has the worst record.
“We’re not firing on all cylinders right now,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I think we’re in a tough stretch. Wins just haven’t come easy for us. Today, give the Royals credit, they put it to us.”
Rays shortstop Wander Franco returned after being benched for two games for how he was handled frustrating situations this season and hit a 417-foot solo homer during a two-run first. He added an RBI single in a two-run second.
“There’s no denying he’s a really good player and he really makes our team, a good team, that much better,” Cash said.
Waters got his third homer, and second in three days, as the Royals scored three times in the third to make it 4-3.
Fermin hit a three-run homer off Yonny Chirinos (3-3) during a four-run fourth as the Royals rebounded to go up 7-4. Bobby Witt Jr. drove in his second run with a run-scoring double.
“Coming from behind was nice,” Quatraro said. “Getting down four, things didn’t look great. To keep adding on was a nice thing.”
Nick Pratto made it 8-4 in the sixth on his second RBI grounder. Olivares went deep against Zack Littell in the eighth.
Chirinos allowed eight runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: C Salvador Pérez, who left Friday’s game with a right hamstring cramp, was the DH and went 0 for 4 with a walk. … LHP Ryan Yarbrough (facial fractures), struck by an 106.2 mph liner off the bat of Oakland’s Ryan Noda on May 7, was scheduled to make his second rehab start Saturday night for Triple-A Omaha.
Rays: Ace Shane McClanahan (mid-back tightness) had his next start pushed back from Wednesday to Friday. The lefty, who left Thursday in the fourth inning, threw for five minutes in the outfield.
UP NEXT
Royals LHP Daniel Lynch (1-3) was set to face RHP Tyler Glasnow (2-1) on Sunday.
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