After picking up Monday right where they left off over the weekend, the Tampa Bay Rays will try to win their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Rays, who are a season-best 10 games over .500 after winning 5-1 in the opener, have prevailed in 10 of their past 11 contests.

They turned to a less familiar name on Monday: Ryan Vilade.

Batting third, the 27-year-old Texan slugged a three-run homer that was all the Rays needed to secure their fourth straight victory.

Hitting .286 for the season, Vilade is batting .357 with nine RBIs and an .936 OPS over his past 14 games.

Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda, who went 3-for-4 on Monday, is 9-for-13 in his past three outings, and Rays starter Nick Martinez moved to 3-1 with a 1.71 ERA after producing five innings of one-run ball.

The Rays are 12-2 in games started by either Martinez or Steven Matz.

Tampa Bay beat the Blue Jays four straight times last May — once in Toronto, three times in Tampa — and Rays manager Kevin Cash noticed a change as the Jays cut a path to the World Series.

“I remember that series in May, we swept them,” Cash said Monday on the team’s radio pregame show. “But they did a nice job of resetting themselves. They got great production from top to bottom of their lineup.

“They played really good defense. That is probably the thing that changed the most for me. … They weren’t giving extra outs, and a pretty electric bullpen.”

Three games under .500 and 6-11 away from home, the reigning American League champion Blue Jays are visiting arguably their least favorite venue. Toronto has lost nine of its past 11 games at Tampa Bay — either in Tampa or St. Petersburg — and hasn’t posted a winning record on the road vs. the Rays since 2014.

“It’s not the building, it’s not the turf, it’s not the roof, it’s not the lights, it’s not anything,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “(The Rays) are a good team. You’ve got to play better is the bottom line.”

Tuesday’s matchup will feature two powerful right-handers.

The Blue Jays will send out Kevin Gausman (2-2, 3.10 ERA), possessor of a darting splitter, for his eighth start of the season.

In 5 2/3 innings against Minnesota in his last outing on Thursday, the 14-year veteran yielded four runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings while walking two and fanning two.

In 24 starts and two relief stints against the Rays, Gausman is 8-9 with a 4.06 ERA.

Tampa Bay will counter with Drew Rasmussen (2-1, 2.64 ERA), who lost his latest start in Cleveland after allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits in five innings on Wednesday.

In his 30 2/3 innings over six starts, the right-hander has a 0.848 WHIP that would lead the AL if he had pitched enough innings to qualify.

Rasmussen is 2-4 with a 2.65 ERA in nine starts and two relief appearances against the Blue Jays.

–Field Level Media

The New York Yankees did not do much offensively last week and yet recorded a series win in a three-game set against the host Texas Rangers.

The Yankees, who battered the Baltimore Orioles in the past four games, hope to keep rolling at the plate Tuesday night when they host Texas in the opener of a three-game series.

The Yankees are 14-2 in their past 16 games, and two of those wins were in Texas, where they scored seven runs in a pair of close games.

New York is seeking its fifth straight win after scoring 39 runs against Baltimore. The Yankees totaled 47 hits, 24 walks and went 18-for-38 with runners in scoring position in the series.

“It’s been great,” New York starting pitcher Cam Schlittler said of New York’s offense. “We’ve been on a really good roll these last couple of series. It’s fun to see one through nine contributing, putting up great at-bats and driving runs in.”

New York concluded the Baltimore series with a 12-1 rout on Monday. Aaron Judge has 11 of his 14 homers this season during his past 21 games and hit a two-run blast in the first inning before adding a two-run single in a six-run eighth.

After the Yankees faced an opponent with a 4.96 ERA, they will face Texas’ Jacob deGrom (2-1, 2.01 ERA) for the second time in a week.

The right-hander took the loss against New York last Tuesday despite allowing one run on six hits in six innings in a 3-2 setback.

He yielded an RBI double to Cody Bellinger in the first inning after a single by Judge and held the Yankees hitless in the next 11 at-bats. The former Cy Young Award winner is 2-5 with a 2.97 ERA in nine career starts against the Yankees.

deGrom is part of a pitching staff with a 3.66 ERA, but the Rangers are hitting .235 and their 127 runs are the fewest in the American League.

Texas has dropped nine of its past 14 games and has scored more than five runs in only one of those contests. Texas also has scored fewer than three runs in that span seven times, including the final two games of its series in Detroit.

After earning a 5-4 victory on Friday, the Rangers went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the past two games.

Texas’ defense faltered in a 7-1 loss to the Tigers on Sunday night, including center fielder Evan Carter failing to finish a diving catch.

“We weren’t real fundamentally sound like we’re typically used to,” Texas manager Skip Schumaker said. “We had some really good plays. The outfield had some really good plays, there were some plays in the infield that were really good as well, but there were some plays that we’re used to making that we didn’t.”

While Corey Seager collected a hit in each of the games in Detroit, he is 4-for-27 in his past seven contests. Seager’s slump is coinciding with Josh Jung batting .378 during a 12-game hitting streak.

New York right-hander Elmer Rodriguez (0-1, 4.50 ERA), who is in the rotation until Carlos Rodon completes his rehab from left elbow surgery, will make his second career start. He debuted Wednesday afternoon in Texas and allowed two runs on four hits in four innings of a 3-0 loss.

–Field Level Media

The Kansas City Royals are in the midst of their most successful stretch of the young season.

Now, the Royals will try for a fifth consecutive win when they continue their four-game home series with the Cleveland Guardians, who they are chasing in the American League Central, on Tuesday night.

Kansas City trailed 2-0 early Monday, then scored four runs in the fourth inning en route to a 6-2 victory over Cleveland.

Bobby Witt Jr. led off the frame with a solo homer, and Nick Loftin capped the big inning with a two-out, two-run tiebreaking single for the Royals, who have averaged 5.8 runs amid their 9-3 stretch that’s followed an eight-game losing streak.

“I think the intensity, pitch-to-pitch, really (sticks) to me,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said of his team’s performance of late.

“Not one guy is trying to be the hero.”

Witt is batting .302 with three homers and eight RBIs in the past 15 games. Meanwhile, teammate Vinnie Pasquantino is 7-for-18 in four games this month after ending April with a .165 average.

“It’s not about getting 10 hits in a row with runners in scoring position,” Pasquantino said. “It’s about just having quality at-bats, making the pitcher work.”

However, Witt and Pasquantino are a combined 4-for-36 against right-hander Gavin Williams (5-1, 2.70 ERA), the scheduled Cleveland starter on Tuesday.

The Guardians are 6-1 when Williams has pitched this season. All of those victories followed a loss in his 2026 debut at Seattle on March 27, and they include the 5 2/3 innings he threw during a 2-1 win over Kansas City on April 7 — when he yielded only a Carter Jensen homer.

Williams is 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA in nine career starts against the Royals.

After allowing a season-high six runs in six innings of an 8-6 win at Toronto on April 24, Williams gave up an unearned run and struck out nine without a walk in Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay.

“When Gavin throws strikes, that’s what you get,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Cleveland has lost two games in a row following a three-game winning streak. David Fry hit a two-run homer and had two of the five hits Monday for the Guardians, who have been outscored 13-3 in the past two contests.

Jose Ramirez singled in the series opener, but the Cleveland star continues to struggle while batting .218, well below his career average of .278.

Steven Kwan is another Cleveland star who is scuffling at the plate. He’s 0-for-8 in the past two games — dropping his batting average to .217. On May 5 of last season, his average was .333.

Ramirez and Kwan will try their luck Tuesday against right-hander Stephen Kolek, who will come off the injured list (left oblique strain) to make his season debut. He is stepping in for scheduled starter Noah Cameron, who has been scratched due to tightness in his lower back.

The Royals acquired Kolek (5-7, 3.51 ERA in 2025) from the San Diego Padres last season at the trade deadline. They received Kolek and right-hander Ryan Bergert for catcher Freddy Fermin.

With the Royals, Kolek started five games and was 1-2 with a 1.91 ERA. In his two losses, the Royals scored a combined two runs.

Kolek has faced the Guardians twice (one start) and has no decisions and a 6.75 ERA.

–Field Level Media