Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Tampa Bay 1, Kansas City 0
When: 8:10 PM ET, Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 59°
Umpires: Home - Quinn Wolcott, 1B - Gerry Davis, 2B - Phil Cuzzi, 3B - Brian Knight
Attendance: 13905

Rays 1, Royals 0: James Loney singled home a run with two out in the ninth inning to snap a scoreless tie and visiting Tampa Bay held on to defeat Kansas City.

Wil Myers led off with an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Loney lined a shot to right-center field off losing pitcher Greg Holland (0-1). Starter Chris Archer allowed six hits in seven scoreless innings, Joel Peralta (1-1) retired one batter for the win and Grant Balfour earned his second save in the ninth for the Rays.

Norichika Aoki had three hits while Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar each had a pair of singles for the Royals, who saw their seven-game home winning streak against Tampa Bay end. Kansas City starter Yordano Ventura struck out six and did not walk a batter in six innings while allowing only two hits in his season debut.

Kansas City loaded the bases with a pair of singles and an error with one out in the third inning, but Archer got Eric Hosmer to ground into a double play to end the threat. The 22-year-old Ventura retired the Rays in order in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings before being replaced by Aaron Crow in the seventh.

Hosmer walked with one out before Perez and Billy Butler singled in the sixth, but Archer retired the next two batters. Kansas City’s Wade Davis escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth with two strikeouts and Peralta struck out Danny Valencia with the bases loaded to halt the Royals threat in the bottom of the frame.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Aoki is 9-for-16 since going hitless in nine at-bats during the first two games of the season. … Kansas City 2B Omar Infante was held out of the lineup after requiring six stitches and suffering a sprained jaw when taking a pitch to the face from Rays RHP Heath Bell in Monday’s game. … Tampa Bay placed LHP Matt Moore on the 15-day disabled list with a sore left elbow and recalled LHP Jeff Beliveau from Triple-A Durham.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay   Kansas City
Chris Archer Player Yordano Ventura
No Decision W/L No Decision
7.0 IP 6.0
4 Strikeouts 6
6 Hits 2
0.00 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Tampa Bay   Kansas City
David DeJesus Player Norichika Aoki
1 Hits 3
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
1 TB 3
.250 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Tampa Bay 4 0 5 .129 12 11 1 1 0 1
Kansas City 9 0 9 .265 21 8 0 3 1 0