After a bad start to the week for the Kansas City Royals losing two out of three at the Detroit Tigers, it turned out all they needed to do was play on the road against the best team in baseball for them to play well. The Royals somehow split a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays in Tropicana Field over the weekend.

Last Monday’s 6-4 loss was one of those games that they should have won, and they would have if the relief pitching and defense were better.

The Royals struck first with a solo home run by Bobby Witt Jr. and a two-run shot by Maikel Garcia in the fourth inning. Witt Jr. struck again with an RBI single an inning later to go up 4-0 giving them an 89.6% win probability, according to MLB.com.

The seventh inning is when things went wrong as they gave up five runs in the inning after they had given up one run in the bottom of the fifth to give the Tigers the 6-4 victory.

The Royals survived a 1-0 victory on Tuesday for their 20th win of the season. Their lone run came on a Matt Beaty RBI double to right field to bring in Maikel Garcia in the top of the sixth inning.

Daniel Lynch earned the win in a quality start. He pitched seven full innings allowing just one hit, two walks and no runs with two strikeouts. Only two bullpen arms were required for the final two innings with Aroldis Chapman pitching in the eighth. The flame-throwing left-handed reliever walked three batters but got out of the jam unscathed. Scott Barlow earned the save despite giving up a double to Javier Baez.

In the series finale, Kansas City lost 9-4 to drop the series. They got the scoring started in the top of the second, though, with Freddy Fremin bringing home two runs on a double to center.

They would give the lead right back in the bottom of the inning with Detroit scoring three. Kansas City’s bats would go cold from the third through the seventh innings.

The Royals would finally get a run back in the eighth with an RBI groundout by Beaty. That got them back within two runs, but a four-run eighth for the Tigers put the game out of reach.

It seemed like an impossible task for Kansas City to win on Thursday considering the level of ball they played in Detroit. However, they somehow pulled a 6-5 win out of the hat in their series opener in Tropicana Field against the best team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Royals trailed a few times in this game and fell behind 5-3 entering the eighth inning. Drew Waters came up clutch with runners on second and third as he hit a two-RBI single to right field to tie the game 5-5.

MJ Melendez created the game-winning run on an RBI infield single that brought home Maikel Garcia, who stole second and third bases with no one out in the top of the ninth inning.

Barlow gave up a hit but struck out a pair of Rays to secure the win and his ninth save of the season.

Tampa Bay unleashed all their pent-up rage from Thursday’s loss and beat down Kansas City 11-3 on Friday.

It was a hit parade for the AL East leaders as they combined for 17 base knocks. All nine hitters in the hitting order got a hit amidst the blowout.

Saturday was once again Jordan Lyles day, but this game was the day that the struggling starter would exorcise his largest demon, that dreaded 15-game losing streak.

Lyles would give up four runs in the first two innings and it felt like that streak would be extended, but the team had his back.

In the third inning, the Royals would score three to make it a ballgame again. Their bats would stay hot in the fourth with Fremin hitting a go-ahead three-run shot to left to go up 6-4. Witt Jr. kept it going with an RBI double later in the inning.

They’d get two more runs in the sixth and the eighth innings, but more importantly, the bullpen kept their composure and didn’t allow a run to give Lyles the win, thus snapping the dreadful streak.

Sadly, one of the things with this team is usually they can’t string more than one good baseball game together. They fell short 3-1 on Sunday in a four-hit effort ending the road trip with a bitter-sweet taste in their mouths.

This week, the Royals will host the Guardians in a three-game series starting Tuesday evening. They’ll follow that up with a three-game weekend interleague series against the 2020 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to end June and start the month of July.