By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals bounced back from a series ending loss to Houston on Sunday, opening a road trip with the Tampa Bay Rays with a 3-1 win on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The Royals built their lead early in the game, scoring a run in the first on an RBI double by Salvador Perez, driving in Jonathan India who led the inning off with a single, before adding another run in the second inning with a sacrifice fly by Kyle Isbel to score Drew Waters, building an early 2-0 lead through the first two innings.
Tampa Bay did cut the lead to one in the fourth inning on a leadoff home run by Junior Caminero, but after that the Rays were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and Kansas City put the final insurance run needed in the top of the ninth when Freddy Fermin singled to drive in Maikel Garcia, putting the Royals up 3-1. Carlos Estévez allowed a single in the bottom of the nintb, but went on to record his eighth save.
Michael Lorenzen earned the win, moving to 3-3 on the season, pitching six innings and giving up four hits and one run, striking out four and walking two. Fermin led the way at the plate going 3-4 with one RBI. Bobby Witt Jr singled in the eighth inning to salvage his hit streak, extending it to 20 games.
As the Royals and Rays continue their series on Wednesday, it will be a special day for St. Joseph’s Noah Cameron. Cameron, the Royals number five prospect, will make his major league debut in a spot start for the injured Cole Ragans. Ragans continues to recover from the mild left groin strain that he suffered Thursday against the Rockies.
Cameron has a 3.22 ERA in five starts, across 22.1 innings in Triple-A Omaha so far this season. In 2024, he posted a 3.08 ERA in Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A with 149 strikeouts and just 36 walks across 128.2 innings. The Royals added Cameron to the 40-man roster this past offseason, and he competed for a spot on the pitching staff in Spring Training.
Cameron will face off with Drew Rasmussen on the mound for the Rays. First pitch on Wednesday will be at 6:05pm, pregame coverage beginning at 5:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.