Royals beat the Rays 6-3 to sweep six-game homestand

These Royals keep stacking up once-a-generation accomplishments.

With a 6-3 victory Wednesday against the Rays, the Royals secured the first sweep of a home stand of at least six games in 28 seasons.

And it didn’t take long for the 30,554 in the Kauffman Stadium stands to reach full throat either.

The Royals’ offense staked Danny Duffy to a four-run lead in the first two innings, and that proved to be plenty with a three-inning assist from the bullpen.

“It feels good,” outfielder Jarrod Dyson said. “Early in the season, I remember strolling into a lot of places and we weren’t winning more than one game. To get back on track and get back to playing Royals baseball, it actually feels great to be doing it, especially in front of our home crowd. I wish we could stay another week.”

Duffy was plugged into a rotation beset by injury two weeks ago and pitched well in his first three starts — a 17-pitch, two home run hiccup in his last outing aside.

There was no hangover for Duffy, who led the Royals to a season-best six-game winning streak with six strong innings.

“He wasn’t quite as sharp as he was the last time, but he was still very consistent with his fastball, mixed in his slider well and threw good change-ups,” manager Ned Yost said. “He’s very confident in what he’s doing right now.”

The win marks the first time the Royals, who finished the home stand 6-0 by brushing aside the White Sox and Rays, have swept a home stand of at least six games since June 2-8, 1988.

Those Royals swept a seven-game home stand, taking four against the Mariners and three versus the Athletics (then won six of seven games on a subsequent road swing).

The Royals went to work early against Chris Archer, netting a pair of runs in both the first and second innings — the latest sign a struggling offense is coming to life.

“We knew we were going to get hot,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We’re confident in our abilities and had confidence in each other. It’s finally coming around. We’ve just got to maintain it and try to be consistent.”

Lorenzo Cain and Kendrys Morales supplied RBI singles during the initial two-run salvo.

Drew Butera added an RBI single in the second and later scored when Rays third baseman Evan Longoria couldn’t handle a two-out chopper by Cain.

Tampa Bay pecked away at that lead, scratching across lone runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings, but Duffy never gave it all back.

Mikie Mahtook opened the second inning with a double, reaching when Cain misread a line smash directly at him, but the Royals’ defense would atone.

After Mahtook scored on Brad Miller’s two-out single, Longoria blasted a double off the left-field wall.

Miller dug for home, but he was cut down by a flawless relay from Dyson to Alcides Escobar to Butera.

“That’s textbook right there — Dys coming up throwing a strike to Esky and then Esky throwing a strike to the plate,” Yost said. “You can’t do it any better.”

It also helped Duffy settle in even more.

“That was huge, but I’ve seen Esky throw guys out at the plate countless times,” Duffy said. “I was backing up home and I was watching it and thought, ‘We’ve got nothing to worry about.’”

Catcher Curt Casali’s 422-foot blast to left field pulled the Rays within 4-2 in the fifth inning.

In the sixth, Longoria reached on a 75-foot pop-up when the entire Royals’ infield lost the ball in the red glow of dusk above Kauffman Stadium.

“It was just the perfect time of day,” Yost said. “It was up and I’m looking all over for it, but I can’t see it. I look on the infield and Hoz can’t see it, Esky can’t see it and I think, ‘Well, at least Omar’s got it.’ No, nobody saw it.”

Longoria was erased on a fielder’s choice, but it led to a run two batters later on a Desmond Jennings ground-out.

Duffy was done after six innings despite throwing only 75 pitches. He allowed three runs on seven hits with no walks and a season-high six strikeouts.

“It felt like everything was really good off of my fastball,” Duffy said. “My change-up was really effective today. I’m just really glad we came out on top.”

The same relay connection that saved a run a few innings earlier produced one for added breathing room in the bottom of the sixth.

Dyson walked, stole second and went to third on Butera’s ground-out to second before trotting home on an Escobar sacrifice fly to right-center. Omar Infante added an eighth-inning sacrifice fly for another run.

Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis each tossed a scoreless inning behind Duffy.

Davis leads the American League with 16 saves.

Merrifield extended his own record with a first-inning double to deep right field. He’s hit safely in the first 11 starts of his big league career.

With a fourth-inning single, Merrifield also recorded the seventh multihit game of his brief career.

The win kept the Royals two games in front of the White Sox for first place in the AL Central.

The only downside was Paulo Orlando’s career-high 14-game hit streak came to an end.

Royals 6, Rays 3

E: Longoria (3). LOB: Tampa Bay 8, Kansas City 8. 2B: Longoria (16), Morrison (4), Mahtook (1), Casali (5), Escobar (7), Merrifield (6). HR: Casali (6), off Duffy. RBIs: Miller (16), Jennings (11), Casali (15), Escobar (15), Cain (34), Morales (22), Infante (11), Butera (5). SB: Dyson (10). SF: Escobar, Infante. S: Dyson.

Runners left in scoring position: Tampa Bay 4 (Miller 2, Longoria, Motter); Kansas City 4 (Cain, Hosmer 2, Dyson). RISP: Tampa Bay 1 for 8; Kansas City 4 for 12. Runners moved up: Casali, Jennings, Hosmer, Butera.

Holds: Herrera (14), Soria (9). Umpires: Home, Lance Barrett; First, Dan Iassogna; Second, Dale Scott; Third, Bob Davidson. Time: 2:45. Att: 30,554.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Royals beat the Rays 6-3 to sweep six-game homestand."