The Tampa Bay Rays own the majors’ best record at home but have struggled against the Kansas City Royals there lately.

However, the Rays are perfect in St. Petersburg, Fla., this season in starts by left-hander Shane McClanahan, who will look to help them even a four-game set against the Royals on Tuesday night.

With a 2-1 loss to Kansas City on Monday, the Rays are still a solid 26-11 at home. However, they’ve lost four straight there to the Royals, who are amid an 8-3 stretch when facing Tampa Bay on the road.

The Rays also have dropped seven of their last 10 games overall. And they’re 1-6 in one-run games during that stretch.

“In the course of 162 games, there’s going to ebbs and some flows,” said Tampa Bay pitcher Drew Rasmussen, who allowed two runs over six innings Monday.

“I wouldn’t chalk it up to anything more than that at this point.”

McClanahan (6-4, 3.33 ERA) has completed just 7 2/3 total innings in his last two starts. On Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he lasted a season-low 3 2/3 innings while allowing two runs, three hits and a season-high five walks on 83 pitches.

Tampa Bay, which dropped that game 5-4, has lost McClanahan’s last three starts– all on the road, where he’s 1-4 with a 4.38 ERA in eight starts. However, the Rays have won all six 2026 home starts made by McClanahan, who is 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA in those outings.

All three of McClanahan’s starts against the Royals have come at home, and he’s 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA in those contests. He has not faced Kansas City since 2023, however.

The Royals have won four of their last five games to build momentum. Carter Jensen recorded a run-scoring single in the fifth inning Monday to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, during which he’s batting .365 with 12 RBIs.

Star teammate Bobby Witt Jr. missed his third straight game Monday with a Grade 1 MCL sprain, but Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said he hopes Witt is available at some point during this series.

The Royals’ scheduled Tuesday starter, Luinder Avila (2-3, 5.50 ERA), yielded a run and three hits while striking out five batters over 5 2/3 innings of his team’s 6-2 victory at Washington on Wednesday.

It was a needed performance by the right-hander, who was tagged for eight runs on five hits and three walks in just two-thirds of an inning against Houston in his prior start.

“He’s a powerful and strong individual,” pitching coach Brian Sweeney told the Royals’ official website. “Being consistent on those 17 inches of the plate, and letting the movement work in the zone, is key.”

Avila was used almost exclusively as a reliever in April and May. He has allowed no more than one run in three of his four June starts.

“He knows he can do it down there in the bullpen,” Sweeney added. “And he’s learning what it takes at the major league level as a starter. It’s going to enhance his development.”

Avila will get his first look at the Rays and Yandy Diaz, who is batting .408 with 23 RBIs during a 20-game home on-base streak.

–Field Level Media

We’ve got a rainy Tuesday on tap in parts of the Northeast so hopefully we get all of today’s games in.

I’m avoiding it all and going with one prop from a dome and another from Southern California for today’s MLB Picks.

Season Record 38-35-1, +0.08 Units

Royals at Rays

Shane McClanahan Under 15.5 Outs Recorded (-124 DraftKings)

The Rays lefty sometimes ace has been anything but stellar lately. In his last three starts he’s lasted just 12.1 IP total with an ugly 7.11 ERA and 2.13 WHIP. Before his recent blips he was excellent, with a 2.45 ERA and 1.02 WHIP though his 15.3% K-BB% was more good than outstanding and the estimators are not enamored with his work.

He has a 3.94 SIERA and 3.67 xERA on the season. Prior to this year he hadn’t pitched in MLB since early August 2023, so there’s also the question of whether he’s just run out of gas already.

As far as this particular prop goes, he’s just not going far into games in either his good starts or bad ones. McClanahan has only recorded an out in the sixth in one of his last seven starts, and that was literally one out.

Overall he’s gone past 5 IP just 3 of 14 times. The Royals offense isn’t the greatest and they’re missing Vinnie P and possibly Bobby Witt Jr. as well. But Jac Caglianone is on fire lately and they went off on the Cardinals last weekend so they’re hitting their stride a bit lately. There’s some juice on the under here but not enough in my opinion.

Orioles vs. Angels

McClanahan’s ex-teammate Baz gets a somewhat easier assignment tonight as he takes on the banged up Angels in Anaheim. Mike Trout is out though Jorge Soler just returned from the IL. The latter is helpful for this prop as he’s rocking a 31% K%.

The Angels as a whole are the most whiff-tastic team in baseball with a 24.9% K%.

Christian Lundgaard displayed some resilience as he went from worst to first, capturing his second IndyCar Series victory of the season in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday.

Lundgaard fell from his starting position of 12th into last place after a Lap 1 collision. He gradually worked his way back up in his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, taking the lead for good on the 52nd lap of the 55-lap race at Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

It’s his third career IndyCar victory, meaning the 24-year-old Danish driver has won more this season than in his first four seasons in the series combined. The latest win moved him up to fourth in the NTT IndyCar Series Championship standings.

“I knew we had a chance,” Lundgaard said of his surge from the back of the pack. “I knew how this race panned out last year, and I knew it was all about just sticking in the race. I did that last year. I made a bunch of mistakes last year that spun ourselves around last year, and I just wanted to make up for that.

“We’ve been on the struggle bus all weekend, so to turn this around, I have to thank the team for that.”

Lundgaard led for just seven laps, fourth-most among competitors, after his car sustained damage to the left front wing and a deflated tire due to a Turn 1 collision with Scott Dixon.

He beat out second-place finisher David Malukas and his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet by 0.6241 seconds, with the race finishing under caution after the one-lap restart to determine the winner was halted by Graham Rahal going off the track after colliding with Will Power, who finished third.

For Malukas, it was his third runner-up finish of the season. He is still seeking his first career IndyCar win, but he’s up to second in the IndyCar standings with five top-five finishes in 10 races this season.

Alex Palou, atop the standings with four wins this season, earned his sixth 2026 pole but the Spaniard finished in fifth (behind Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson) after he was penalized for speeding in the pits on Lap 29.

New Zealand’s Marcus Armstrong, seeking his first career win, held the lead for 14 laps into the final stretch. He led by nearly three seconds with five laps to go when his car abruptly lost power, allowing Lundgaard to overtake him and sending him falling all the way down to 24th place.

“It was all smooth sailing,” Armstrong said after the race. “I came out of Turn 6, and the engine just started sputtering like it was out of fuel. But clearly it wasn’t. And then it just completely died. There was no indication there was nothing wrong.”

Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden led for a race-high 18 laps, finishing in eighth place.

–Field Level Media