Jason Hammel struggles, Royals fall 12-1

Entering tonight, Jason Hammel was coming off one of his best starts to the season.

After going 0-3 with a 6.65 ERA in April, he started off May with six innings of one run ball against Cleveland, striking out six in the process.

However, he was back to his old ways tonight, giving up six earned runs over seven innings of work.

The Rays started off the scoring in the bottom half of the first with a bizarre sac fly double play from Logan Morrison.

The ball was poked into a shallow center field where Alcides Escobar made a fantastic over the shoulder catch and gunned down Evan Longoria, who didn’t tag up at second. The play looked familiar.

Longoria got even with one out in the 3rd, reaching on a throwing error by Escobar and scoring on Morrison’s moonshot homer to center, putting the Rays up 3-0.

Rickie Weeks, who is apparently still playing baseball professionally, followed up Morrison’s blast with a blast of his own to boost the Rays lead to 4-0.

They jumped right back on Hammel in the 5th when our old friend Derek Norris scored on a Corey Dickerson. Brad Miller’s sac fly drove in Dickerson to put the Rays up 6-0.

The Rays added another run in the 5th and then knocked Peter Moylan around for five more runs in the 8th to put the Rays up 12-0.

Meanwhile, Chris Archer was dominant, throwing eight shutout innings while striking out 11 in the process.

The Royals did see one positive in the 9th inning, with Jorge Soler driving in the Royals only run on an RBI double. The double was his first hit as a Royal.

The loss dropped the Royals to 12-21 on the season. Kansas City will go for their first series win in nearly a month tomorrow.

Up Next: Royals at Rays, May 11, 2017; 12:10 PM CDT, Tropicana Field. LHP Jason Vargas (4-1, 1.19 ERA) v. RHP Jake Odorizzi (2-1, 2.88 ERA).