ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Three Tampa Bay Rays pitchers lost their combined no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals when Carter Jensen hit a two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning on Thursday.
Opener Casey Legumina retired all five batters he faced through 1 1/3 innings before Ian Seymour took over in the second inning. Seymour struck out seven batters. Kimbrel started the ninth and allowed a walk before Jensen went deep with one out.
Tampa Bay was leading Kansas City 13-0 to start the ninth behind three home runs by Junior Caminero.
The Rays retired the first 16 batters they faced before Starling Marte drew a one-out walk on a full count in the top of the sixth before Seymour retired Tyler Tolbert and Jensen to end the inning.
Left fielder Chandler Simpson made a running catch near the foul pole to track down a fly ball off the bat of Salvador Perez in the fifth to keep the perfect game intact. Simpson also caught a hard line drive off the bat of Ian Collins to end the eighth.
The Rays have never thrown a perfect game in franchise history. Matt Garza has the only no-hitter in Tampa Bay history on July 26, 2010, against the Detroit Tigers.
Tampa Bay has been no-hit six times in franchise history, the most recent on May 10, 2022, against the Los Angeles Angels’ Reid Detmers. The last time Kansas City was no-hit was May 19, 2008, against Boston’s Jon Lester.