Game Eighty: Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals

It’s been a while since the Royals won at home.

The Tampa Bay baseball club named for sunshine (NOT marine wildlife) will take on the Kansas City baseball club named for a livestock festival (NOT monarchy) this evening at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City will look to snap an ongoing eight-game home losing streak.

The Royals will start Michael Wacha. Despite the lowest strikeout rate of his career, Wacha has enjoyed a very successful season so far with a 3.24 ERA/3.80 FIP in 15 starts. His 3.79 xERA is his best mark since way back in 2015, fueled by elite suppression of hard contact. Overall, he hasn’t changed much from what he was doing last year and is getting similar results. Wacha last faced Tampa Bay in early July last year, tossing six innings of one-run ball.

The Rays will counter with Drew Rasmussen. Rasmussen debuted in the majors in 2020 but has dealt with a litany of injuries, so his 79.1 innings pitched this season is already the second-most he has managed in a season. He’s been effective with a 2.61 ERA, but his FIP and xERA (both 3.53) imply he’s been lucky. He employs a very fastball-heavy approach with a four-seamer, cutter, and sinker that represent nearly 90% of his total offerings. He doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he throws strikes and keeps the ball on the ground. Rasmussen last faced Kansas City in April of this year, surrendering three runs in five innings of work.

Matt Quatraro seems to have settled on somewhat of a lineup. In 18 of 21 games in June, the top six has looked like this (with some positional changes), and Kyle Isbel has hit ninth in 15 of those. This will be the fourth game in which the remaining two spots are filled by Nick Loftin and John Rave.

First pitch: 6:40 pm CDT

Royals lineup