Three Takeaways From the Royals' 7-2 Loss to the Rays

The Kansas City Royals dropped the series-deciding game against the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 this afternoon.

The Kansas City Royals dropped the series-deciding game against the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2.

This afternoon's loss dropped Kansas City to 23-24 on the year while the Rays win moved them to 31-20. The Royals lose the season series to Tampa Bay, 4-2, and have lost 16 of their last 21 games against the Rays.

Kansas City will now travel to Minnesota for three games against their American League Central rival. Here are three takeaways from the Royals' final game in Tampa Bay.

Brady Singer just didn't have it today.

It was clear from the jump that Brady Singer just didn't have his usual stuff today. With his family in the stands, Singer pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on four hits. The Florida native did strike out three batters before exiting the game. His outing moved his season ERA to 4.91. Singer has been solid as of late and hopefully, this was just a hiccup for the young righty. The Royals will need him to be solid if they want to get back into the race for the AL Central.

Some starters were able to get some rest.

With the bulk of Tampa Bay's runs being scored in the first three innings, the Royals were able to get some starters some rest in the back half of the game. Allowing Whit Merrifield to rest in games like these will be crucial for the rest of the season. Carlos Santana, Andrew Benintendi and Adalberto Mondesi were also pulled from this afternoon's game. Kansas City doesn't have another off day until Wednesday, so getting these everyday players some time to rest when they can is important.

I don't know who is going to start on Saturday.

Heading into today's game, I would have assumed that the Royals would have gone with Jakob Junis as the starter for Game 2 against the Twins this weekend. But after Singer's rough start, Junis came in for relief. The 28-year-old allowed one run on three hits and three walks while striking out two in 2 1/3 innings for the Royals. Kansas City also brought in Ervin Santana for an inning of relief. He looked good in his first appearance in nearly two weeks. Santana collected two strikeouts in the bottom of the eighth inning. With Royals manager Mike Matheny's decision looming, it will be interesting to see the strategy he will employ against their divisional rival. this weekend.

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