ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay native Jac Caglianone continued his hot June by homering twice and driving in three runs in the Kansas City Royals’ 12-5 victory over the reeling Rays on Tuesday night.

Luinder Avila (3-3) allowed three hits and a run over five innings for Kansas City. He also struck out six batters before giving way to four Royals relief pitchers.

Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan (6-5) gave up six runs over six innings, though four were unearned.

Caglianone hit a 443-foot solo home run in the first inning and a 416-foot two-run blast in the fifth for this third multihomer game this month. His nine homers in June are tied with the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz for the most in the American League.

Six home runs for Caglianone, who played before family and friends at the stadium where he grew up watching the Rays, have occurred in the past five games. Caglianone, the Royals’ sixth-overall draft pick in 2024 out of Florida, has 14 homers on the season.

His homer in the fifth was part of a four-run inning that put the Royals ahead 6-2. They scored five more runs in the eighth and led 12-2 before Tampa Bay scored three runs in the ninth.

Nick Loftin went 4 for 5 with a homer and two RBIs for Kansas City, which had 14 hits.

The Rays dropped to three games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East. Tampa Bay, in the midst of a season-long 10-game homestand, has lost eight of its past 11.

Up next

Royals LHP Noah Cameron (4-4, 4.20) faces Rays RHP Griffin Jax (2-5, 3.67) on Wednesday in the second game of the three-game series.

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