Bubic enjoys strong start, Dozier delivers clutch hit as KC Royals win series finale

Before more than one-third of the Kansas City Royals roster turned over thanks to a trip to Canada before the All-Star break, the ballclub had started to pick up its play of late.

They won three out of four series and their record had improved significantly since the start of June.

Well, so far the Royals have hit the ground running coming out of the All-Star break.

Hunter Dozier’s two-out RBI single in the seventh inning broke a tie score and put the Royals on the path to another series-clinching victory as they defeated a perennial playoff team in the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-2, in front of an announced 12,336 in the finale of a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Rookie catcher MJ Melendez smacked an RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning to add an insurance run as the Royals (38-57) bounced back to win a three-game series after losing the opener for the first time this season.

They’ve also won three consecutive series at Kauffman Stadium.

“I just think we’re putting more of it together,” infielder Nicky Lopez said. “Early on in the year, it was we’re pitching but we’re not hitting or we’re hitting and — now, we’re finally starting to put everything together.

“When you do that, you win ballgames, so I think it’s more of that. Getting used to, obviously, new guys coming up. Getting used to everyone that’s in the clubhouse. We’re playing team ball, which is good.”

Whit Merrifield (2 for 5, two runs scored), Michael A. Taylor (2 for 4, two runs scored), Emmanuel Rivera (2 for 4) and Dozier (2 for 4) also had two hits apiece.

The win also stopped an extended slide against AL East foes for the Royals. Entering the series, the Royals hadn’t taken a series from an AL East team since June 18-20, 2021. They snapped an 11-series drought during which they lost nine of those series.

“I think we’ve all really seen it coming,” Melendez said. “I think we’ve done a really good job of putting really good at-bats together. Pitching is coming along great. The chemistry is there. So I feel like it was just a matter of time. I feel like the break kind of helped us kind of all regroup, get well-rested, and now it’s just going up from here.”

Royals rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. left the game with a hamstring injury after he registered a hit, an RBI and a stolen base in the first inning.

Lopez came off the bench, took over at shortstop and recorded two hits including his second triple of the season. His performance off the bench came on the heels of Taylor coming off the bench and hitting the go-ahead home run in the previous night’s win.

“Nicky had a great day just like Michael did yesterday,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We’re going to have to use our bench like that. MJ Melendez started on the bench today, comes in late and gets a big hit. We needed that second run to give us a two-run lead. It was a really nice job of Nicky staying ready and everybody being prepared to come in and help.”

Bubic with another strong outing

Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic (2-6) allowed two runs on four hits and three walks in his second consecutive outing of seven innings.

The key to Bubic’s recent success?

“Just stop thinking,” Bubic said. “I think having a little bit of an edge back to me probably helps as well, just bringing confidence back up. Knowing that these guys have my back behind me definitely helps as well.

“At the end of the day, it’s just pounding the zone with all three pitches, not overthinking what that looks like and really going from there. Sometimes you surprise yourself with what you’re able to do.”

The Royals got on the board with a run in the first inning after Merrifield legged out a hustle double to lead-off the inning. Witt swatted an RBI single into right field to give the Royals a 1-0 edge. They tacked on another run in the second via a Nick Pratto sacrifice fly.

Rays slugger Yandy Diaz wasted no time cutting into that lead. He blasted a solo home run 434 feet to center field to start the third inning for the blemish on Bubic’s day.

That one-run Royals lead remained intact until the sixth inning. Diaz again got things started, this time with a leadoff double. He advanced to third on Randy Arozarena’s single, and Diaz scored the tying run on Luke Raley’s sacrifice fly.

Bubic looked poised to perhaps give up that lead in the seventh after a leadoff walk and a single put runners on first and second with no outs. But Rivera made a diving stop at third base, tagged the base with the ball and then threw to second for a double play that erased two runners.

“I thought for a second he had a chance at a triple play,” Bubic said. “But he did a really good job getting to that ball and obviously getting two outs from it. That was huge for me.”

Royals relievers Dylan Coleman and Taylor Clarke pitched one scoreless inning of relief apiece to close out the win. Clarke earned his second save of the season.

The Royals collected 14 hits and stranded nine men on base along the way to the win. They were 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position, but they did enough at the right times on Sunday.

“We’re playing better baseball as a whole,” Matheny said. “You can even go to the Toronto series. You can go back to the Houston series. Just a better brand of baseball. We get very focused on the process of playing winning-style baseball and the wins will be the natural byproduct. Then the expectations start to increase.

“You can tell the guys are starting to expect more from themselves and each other. … There’s some things heading in the right direction. But we’ve got a lot of work to do too. There’s things we’ve got to get better on. For us to win, we’re going to have to do the little things right on a very high percentage of the time.”

Celebrating Buck

During the seventh-inning stretch, a video of Negro Leagues and Kansas City baseball icon Buck O’Neil singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame was shown on the Crown Vision board. O’Neil, who died in 2006 at 94, was enshrined on Sunday afternoon in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.