Margot hits RBI single in 10th, Rays beat Royals 2-1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Manuel Margot hit a run-scoring single in the 10th inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Kevin Kiermaier advanced from second to third when Taylor Walls flied out to deep center field against Tyler Zuber (0-2). After Austin Meadows was intentionally walked, Margot won it on just the Rays' third hit of the game.
“It felt tremendous,” he said through a translator.
The AL East-leading Rays are only 12-13 at home, compared to 19-7 on the road.
Andrew Benintendi homered leading off the ninth against J.P. Feyereisen (1-2) as the Royals tied it at 1. Feyereisen worked out of a jam with a runner on third and one out in the 10th.
Tyler Glasnow pitched eight stellar innings for the Rays, whose 11-game winning streak ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to Kansas City. He scattered three hits, struck out 11 and walked two.
Glasnow figured after throwing 102 pitches through eight innings that he would not get a shot at a complete game.
“It ran through my mind for sure, but I had a feeling I was done,” he said.
Margot has a hit in 10 of his last 11 games, with 12 RBIs during that stretch.
“We were able to get the job done there in the end,” Margot said. “You always want to back up your starting pitcher with the job that they do and the way Glas did today. We did a good job all the way up to the end.”
Royals starter Mike Minor gave up one run, two hits and four walks with nine strikeouts over five innings during a 96-pitch outing. Greg Holland, Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont and Jake Brentz combined on four hitless innings.
“He used up his pitches but his stuff was pretty good,” Kansas City manager Mike Matheny said about Minor. “He was getting the swing and miss but unfortunately it was a lot of deep counts. We couldn't take him any deeper, but they weren't on stuff.”
Glasnow retired his first 13 batters on just 40 pitches before Kelvin Gutierrez lined a single to right with one out in the fifth. The right-hander was coming off a start Friday against Toronto in which he allowed five runs and nine hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Mike Brosseau drew a walk from Minor in the fourth, advanced to second on a grounder and scored to put the Rays up 1-0 on Mike Zunino’s single.
The teams combined for seven hits and 25 strikeouts.
UBER RELIEVER
Feyereisen, acquired Saturday from Milwaukee, spent several years as a New York Yankees minor leaguer and had spring training in nearby Tampa. During spring training 2018 he also drove an Uber to make extra money. One time he picked up a couple of Miami scouts after they attended a game. “They’re like looking at me, I mean J.P. as a driver, and they’re like, ‘Hey, do you pitch for the Yankees?’” Feyereisen said. “I was like, `Yeah, I do.’”
NOT AGAIN
CF Brett Phillips ran down Benintendi's first-inning drive on the warning track. Kiermaier made two standout catches Tuesday night on shots hit by Benintendi.
SPECIAL GROUP
Royals 1B Carlos Santana became the fifth Dominican-born player with 250 homers and 1,000 walks with his home run Tuesday. The others are Albert Pujols, Manny Ramírez, David Ortiz and José Bautista.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: RHP Chris Archer (right lateral forearm tightness) has been shut down from throwing for a few days. “Still feels it a little bit on the outside of the forearm,” manager Kevin Cash said. Archer has been throwing at around 90 feet on level ground.
UP NEXT
Kansas City RHP Brady Singer (2-3) and Rays LHP Shane McClanahan (1-0) are Thursday’s starters.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports