Ian Seymour struck out eight over six strong frames, Cedric Mullins clubbed a two-run homer among his two hits and the visiting Tampa Bay Rays capped a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 5-2 win Thursday night, their season-high eighth straight victory.

Chandler Simpson and Hunter Feduccia each had three hits for the American League East-leading Rays, who did all their scoring with two outs.

Seymour (5-1) — who pitched 6 2/3 hitless innings against the Royals in a bulk relief role June 25 — gave up Carter Jensen’s leadoff home run, two other hits and a walk Thursday for Tampa Bay, which won the final five meetings with Kansas City this season.

Isaac Collins added a seventh-inning homer for the Royals, who have lost seven of eight.

One night after his 20-game hitting streak came to an end, Jensen opened the bottom of the first by sending Seymour’s pitch 449 feet into the right field fountains.

However, the Rays took the lead in the second with three runs off Royals starter Stephen Kolek (4-3), who threw 42 of his 51 total pitches during what would be his final inning of the night.

Simpson reached on a one-out infield single, then advanced on a fielder’s choice. He scored on a double just off the glove of Royals right fielder Kameron Misner from Taylor Walls, who came home on a bloop hit by Richie Palacios. Feduccia’s RBI triple, which also glanced off Misner’s glove, made it 3-1.

In the third, recently acquired Randy Dobnak replaced Kolek, who gave up four hits with a walk while facing 11 batters for the game.

Dobnak was solid until the fifth, when Simpson laid down a successful two-out bunt single. He stole second and came home on Mullins’ drive over the right field wall.

Tampa Bay’s 22-year-old star Junior Caminero went 0-for-5, one night after becoming the youngest player in major league history to homer in six straight games.

Bryan Baker pitched a perfect ninth for his 22nd save.

Jensen had two of Kansas City’s five hits.

–Field Level Media

Nathan Church hit a two-run homer to ignite a seven-run rally and help the visiting St. Louis Cardinals to a come-from-behind, 11-5 win over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday in the rubber game of their three-game series.

The Cardinals sent 11 men to the plate during the seventh-inning uprising and erased a 5-3 deficit to hand the Braves their 14th loss in 19 games. St. Louis has won three of its last four.

Church tied the game with a two-run shot, his seventh of the season, against Tyler Kinley (4-3). Church had two hits in the series, both of them home runs.

The Cardinals followed with RBI singles from JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker, an RBI double by Lars Nootbaar and a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Masyn Winn.

The winning pitcher was Gordon Graceffo (6-1) for a spotless sixth.

Atlanta’s Hurston Waldrep was making his first start of the season after undergoing elbow surgery in spring training to remove loose bodies. He worked 5 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on five hits and one walk, striking out four.

It was a wild first inning as the Cardinals jumped ahead on Jordan Walker’s three-run homer, his 19th, that hit the top of the wall in left field and bounced into the seats. It ended a 14-game homerless streak for Walker, the longest of his season.

The Braves then responded with a five-run outburst in the bottom half. Mauricio Dubon delivered a bases-loaded RBI single. Dominic Smith followed with a liner that hit pitcher Dustin May’s right ankle on the follow-through and caromed into shallow right field, clearing the bases. The game was halted while trainers examined the right-hander, who stayed in the game.

Mike Yastrzemski followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center field and Jim Jarvis singled. That caused manager Oliver Marmol to lift May in favor of Justin Bruihl, who retired Drake Baldwin, the 10th batter in the inning.

Alec Burleson hit a solo homer for the Cardinals in the ninth, his 14th.

–Field Level Media

Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez left Thursday’s game against the visiting Los Angeles Angels after getting hit in the head by an errant throw.

Rodriguez walked with one out in the bottom of the first inning before Dominic Canzone hit a grounder to Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel. He tried to throw to second base to start an inning-ending double play, but the ball hit Rodriguez in the back of the batting helmet just as he started his slide. The ball ricocheted into center field and Rodriguez pumped his fist and yelled toward his teammates in the dugout before bending over with his hands on his knees.

Mariners head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson and manager Dan Wilson came onto the field and chatted with Rodriguez and third-base coach Carlos Cardoza for a couple of minutes before Rodriguez stayed in the game.

Rodriguez returned to center field in the top of the second but was seen talking with Torgerson again while sitting on the bench in the bottom of the inning and left with the trainer and headed for the clubhouse.

Victor Robles replaced Rodriguez in center when the Mariners took the field in the third.

–Field Level Media