ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The major league-leading Tampa Bay Rays lost ace Shane McClanahan to mid-back tightness in a 6-5 loss to the lowly Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.
McClanahan was looking to become the majors’ first 12-game winner of the year before leaving with two outs in the fourth. The lefthander, 11-1 this season, gave up two runs, four hits and two walks in a 66-pitch outing.
Maikel Garcia drew a walk from Pete Fairbanks (0-2) to start the ninth, then stole second and third. After Fairbanks got a pair of strikeouts, Garcia scored on MJ Melendez’s infield single down the first-base line to put the Royals ahead 6-5. The Royals stole seven bases overall.
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Aroldis Chapman (3-2) struck out the side during a perfect eighth, topping out at 102.6 miles per hour. Scott Barlow got three outs for his ninth save.
Kansas City took a 3-2 lead in the seventh on Drew Waters’s solo homer and his two-run eighth-inning single off Jason Adam tied it at 5.
Francisco Mejía hit a homer leading the seventh and Randy Arozarena had a two-run single as Tampa Bay went up 5-3. Arozarena also had an RBI single during a two-run first and has 53 RBIs
The Rays (52-26) dropped to 32-9 at home. Kansas City has the second-worst record in the majors at 21-54.
Rays manager Kevin Cash announced before the game that shortstop Wander Franco would not play at least Thursday and Friday games because of how he has handled frustrating situations this season.