Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals meet in game 2 of series

Updated Jul. 3, 2024 4:01 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Tampa Bay Rays (43-42, fourth in the AL East) vs. Kansas City Royals (47-40, third in the AL Central)

Kansas City, Missouri; Wednesday, 8:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Ryan Pepiot (4-4, 4.40 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 83 strikeouts); Royals: Michael Wacha (4-6, 3.91 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 67 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Rays -111, Royals -109; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays play the Kansas City Royals with a 1-0 series lead.

Kansas City has a 47-40 record overall and a 30-17 record at home. Royals hitters have a collective .306 on-base percentage, the 10th-ranked percentage in the AL.

Tampa Bay has a 43-42 record overall and a 20-17 record in road games. The Rays have gone 26-6 in games when they scored at least five runs.

The teams play Wednesday for the fifth time this season. The season series is tied 2-2.

TOP PERFORMERS: Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 14 home runs while slugging .467. Vinnie Pasquantino is 11-for-38 with a double, three home runs and nine RBI over the last 10 games.

Isaac Paredes has 17 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs while hitting .276 for the Rays. Brandon Lowe is 8-for-31 with a double and four home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Royals: 5-5, .219 batting average, 3.07 ERA, outscored by one run

Rays: 7-3, .261 batting average, 2.83 ERA, outscored opponents by 18 runs

INJURIES: Royals: Adam Frazier: 10-Day IL (thumb), Dan Altavilla: 10-Day IL (oblique), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kris Bubic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Rays: Richard Lovelady: 15-Day IL (forearm), Jacob Waguespack: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Drew Rasmussen: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (forearm)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.