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Rays attempt to end seven-game road slide

Jul 25, 2008 - 10:07 AM Tampa Bay (59-42) at Kansas City (46-57) 8:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Rays have a share of first place in the American League East with dominance at Tropicana Field. However, the same cannot be said about their play away from home.

The Rays attempt to end a seven-game road losing streak on Friday against the Kansas City Royals.

Tampa Bay, which is 40-16 at home, fell to 19-26 away following Thursday's 4-2 series-opening setback. During their seven-game road losing streak, the team has scored 11 runs and hit .181.

The loss continued a sour trend for the Rays - who are hitting .191 with runners in scoring position over their last 14 games - as well as a pitching one - their major league-best 2.93 home ERA is offset by a 4.93 road ERA, which is among the bottom third in the league.

Most troubling for Tampa Bay is the fact it plays 36 of its final 61 games on the road. If the Rays have any hopes of holding off the Boston Red Sox (60-43) and New York Yankees (56-45) to claim their first AL East crown, things will have to improve.

"Wins are wins, but we have to play a lot on the road in the second half, so we're going to have to learn how to win on the road and get it turned around," Rays rookie third baseman Evan Longoria said.

Edwin Jackson (5-7, 4.25 ERA) will get the first shot at halting the losing streak. The righthander will first need to overcome memories of his last start when he was roughed up for six runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings in a 9-4 loss at Toronto on Sunday.

The Royals will answer with Brian Bannister (7-8, 5.49), who didn't fare much better than his counterpart in his last outing. The righthander surrendered five runs and eight hits over three innings in Sunday's 8-7 win over the Chicago White Sox.