Kansas City, MO – Billy Butler finished 3-for-3 with a solo homer, three RBI and three runs scored, as the Kansas City Royals routed the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-1, in a makeup game at Kauffman Stadium.
The contest was originally supposed to be played on May 2, but a snow storm in Kansas City forced the game to be rescheduled for Monday.
Salvador Perez clubbed a three-run homer and registered four RBI, while Mike Moustakas added two hits, two RBI and a run scored for the Royals, who have won back-to-back games on the heels of a seven-game slide.
"We were bound to score some runs after having a tough stretch," Butler said. "Everybody wants to make something out of it, but it's just part of the season. The guys in here never panicked and won't continue. Nothing comes as a surprise for us."
The offensive outburst provided more than enough run support for starter Jeremy Guthrie (13-10), who gave up one run on six hits and three walks while striking out five over five frames.
Matt Joyce collected three of Tampa Bay's seven hits and scored the team's only run, as the Rays dropped their second straight game to fall 1 1/2 games back of idle Boston atop the AL East.
"We hit the ball hard all day long and they were able to make some plays, run some balls down," Rays outfielder David DeJesus said. "They were getting those little dinky hits, but those dinky hits were adding up and then a big hit. Those add-on runs were huge for them."
Jeremy Hellickson (10-8) had a forgettable outing, yielding five runs on seven hits and two walks in just 2 2/3 innings to absorb the loss.
Butler put the Royals on the board with an RBI single in the first, then added another run-scoring base hit in the third to make it 2-0. Moustakas followed with an RBI double down the right-field line before Perez lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Butler for a 4-0 lead.
Justin Maxwell capped Kansas City's four-run third with a run-scoring single to right to push the margin to 5-0.
Joyce led off the fourth with a double and scored two batters later on a James Loney single, but the Royals tacked on five more runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Jarrod Dyson started the rally with a single, stole second, and scored easily on Alex Gordon's triple to right. Rays reliever Cesar Ramos retired the next two batters before intentionally walking Butler to get to Moustakas, who smacked a single to center to score Gordon.
Two pitches later, Perez pummeled a fastball into the bullpen in left field to make it 10-1.
Butler belted a two-out blast in the eighth to account for the final margin.
Game Notes
Kansas City took six of the seven meetings with Tampa Bay this season, outscoring them 53-22 ... Hellickson fell to 0-5 over his last six starts ... Tampa Bay went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.