Royals turn to Kris Bubic to reverse home skid vs. Rays

Kansas City’s Kris Bubic has come down to earth following a stellar start to the season.

However, he’s likely who the Royals want on the mound to help halt their seven-game home losing streak Tuesday night, when the revived Tampa Bay Rays visit.

Bubic (6-4, 2.12 ERA) posted a 1.43 ERA while going 5-3 in his first 12 starts while returning to Kansas City’s rotation on a full-time basis for the first time since 2022. However, the left-hander has yielded eight runs and 15 hits over 9 2/3 innings in splitting his last two.

He did earn the victory Wednesday at Texas, but had to grind through 5 1/3 innings, giving up nine hits, but three runs, while striking out six during the 6-3 win. Royals manager Matt Quatraro applauded the resolve that Bubic showed in that outing — a testament to the overall confidence and poise he’s displayed this season.

“It was hard work. He’s stuff looked fine. …(But), they battled him,” Quatraro said.

“As he went (on), he got batter. … That was pretty solid.”

Bubic, who last faced the Rays in 2022, hopes to be more efficient to begin Kansas City’s stretch of six consecutive games at home, where it’s mired in a 3-14 rut and been outscored 31-11 during the seven-game skid there.

However, the Royals might have some collective confidence coming off a 4-2 trip to Texas and San Diego — even if they totaled three runs while losing the last two against the Padres.

And while the Royals continue to battle with offensive inconsistency, star Bobby Witt Jr. had two more hits during Sunday’s 3-2 loss at San Diego, and is batting .393 (11-for-28) in seven games following an 0-for-15 slump.

Witt went 4-for-10 with a homer and four RBIs while Kansas City outscored the Rays 14-3 in sweeping a three-game road set April 29-May 1.

Not long after that disappointing series, on May 19, the Rays were sitting at 21-26. Since then, they’ve gone 22-9, won all three against the New York Mets in their most recent road series and fell short of a three-game home sweep of Detroit after falling 9-3 on Sunday.

“It would have been nice to get a sweep, but you kind of have to lean on what we’ve done, and (that we are) playing some really good ball, and just keep it going,” reliever Garrett Cleavinger told the Rays’ official website.

Budding Tampa Bay star Junior Caminero is 13-for-30 with four home runs and nine RBIs in his last eight games. He went 4-for-12 with a homer against the Royals earlier this season.

Meanwhile, teammate Jonathan Aranda is batting .387 during an eight-game hitting streak. He was 3-for-6 in the Rays’ last two games versus Kansas City.

Scheduled Rays starter Taj Bradley (4-5, 4.95 ERA) has allowed 19 runs — 13 earned — along with 16 hits and seven walks over 9 1/3 innings of his last three starts. The right-hander yielded seven of those runs, all but one earned, and six hits, including two homers, in just 1 1/3 innings against Baltimore on Wednesday.

Bradley, though, gave up two runs through the first two innings against the Royals on April 29, then settled down to throw five scoreless and complete seven during Tampa Bay’s 3-1 defeat.

–Field Level Media