The Kansas City Royals started their second half losing two out of three at home to the team with the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays.

They played a doubleheader on Saturday after the game that was scheduled for Friday night was rained out.

In the first game, the Royals would face Tyler Glasnow and he looked like he was in prime form. He gave up just one run in his six innings pitched including seven strikeouts and just two walks.

That lone run was a Bobby Witt Jr. solo blast in the bottom of the fifth with the Royals already down 2-0.

Luke Raley would open up the ballgame for the Rays with a two-run double in the eighth followed by a sac fly RBI from Jose Lowe.

They would add insult to injury with a Jose Siri solo homer in the top of the ninth.

Alec Marsh’s third career start was his best so far. He went a career-high six innings with another personal record of 11 K’s. He only walked one and gave up just two runs but sadly was credited with the loss.

Winning both games in a doubleheader is difficult, but Tampa Bay was able to complete that task with a 4-2 victory in the second game.

Home Run Derby runner-up and record holder for most homers in a single postseason (10) Randy Arozarena would get the scoring started with an RBI single in the third.

Maikel Garcia answered with an RBI sac fly to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning.

Kansas City would then get their first lead of the series with a Dairon Blanco RBI fielder’s choice to go up 2-1.

The Rays got some clutch hits in the seventh and eighth innings from Jose Lowe and Raley, respectively to go up 3-2.

Kansas City’s bats went cold, and Tampa Bay added another run in the ninth to get the win.

Cole Ragans made his Kansas City Royals debut after getting traded from the Texas Rangers, apart of the trade that sent Aroldis Chapman down south.

It was his first start since last year when he was in Texas’s rotation, and Ragans pitched well. He went five innings and gave up just one run and two walks. The Royals will have to discuss if he possibly becomes part of the team’s rotation. Ragans had been in the bullpen for the Rangers all this season.

The Royals’ bats got hot early in the series finale which resulted in an 8-4 victory to avoid a sweep.

MJ Melendez got an RBI double in the first to start things out. The third inning is where the Royals’ offense would explode. Drew Waters added a run with an RBI triple, Nick Pratto roped an RBI single to left and Bobby Witt Jr. opened things up with a two-RBI triple to go up 5-0.

Then in the fourth inning, they would keep their sticks hot with a Waters solo homer in the fourth inning to go up 6-0 and a Witt Jr. solo bomb, making it 7-0.

The Rays tried to make things interesting with a pair of homers that brought home four runs, but with Melendez hitting another one out in the eighth and the bullpen holding it down, Kansas City would win the game.

It was more than a welcoming sight for sore eyes to see Bobby Witt Jr. finally show some competency at the plate in this series.

Starting pitching also made a nice showing this weekend. Royals’ executives will have some tough decisions to make at the trade deadline regarding their arms.

Kansas City will hope that will continue this week with a four-game home series against the Detroit Tigers starting Monday night.

They then go to the east coast this weekend to face an up-and-down New York Yankees team that hasn’t won a series since late June and just got done losing two out of three to the basement-dwelling Colorado Rockies.