Siri homers twice and Rays beat Royals 6-1 in doubleheader opener #Siri #homers #Rays #beat #Royals #doubleheader #opener

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jose Siri hit a pair of solo homers and the Tampa Bay Rays opened the second half by beating the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Saturday in a doubleheader opener.

A day after the series opener was rained out, Tyler Glasnow (3-3) gave up six hits and struck out six as the AL East-leading Rays won their second straight after a season-high seven-game losing streak. Glasnow had been 0-3 in four starts since a June 14 win at Oakland.

“I felt good all game,” Glasnow said. “I kind of felt off to start, but as the innings went on I got a rhythm. It was a battle today and ended up being a good game.”

Lightning strikes behind the St. Louis Wheel as a thunderstorm passes over the CityPark MLS soccer stadium in downtown St. Louis, Mo., Friday, July 14, 2023. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

The scheduled game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals has been postponed because of rain.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough delivers during the third inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Sunday, July 9, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Nick Cammett)

Ryan Yarbrough won his return to the mound for Kansas City after being hit in the face by a line drive two months ago and the Royals beat Shane Bieber for the first time, snapping a six-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

FILE - Kansas City Royals pitcher Ryan Yarbrough throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Kansas City, Mo., May 2, 2023. Yarbrough is returning to the mound Sunday, July 9 to start against Cleveland in his first major league game since the left-hander was hit in the head with a line drive two months ago. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley, file)

Kansas City Royals pitcher Ryan Yarbrough is returning to the mound to start against Cleveland in his first major league game since the left-hander was hit in the face by a line drive two months ago.

Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Nick Cammett)

Top prospect Gavin Williams struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings for his first victory in the majors, brothers Bo and Josh Naylor drove in two runs apiece and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals 10-6 on Saturday.

Kansas City has lost seven of eight, dropping to 26-66. Salvador Perez had four hits for the Royals, one shy of his career high. His fifth-inning double made him the sixth Kansas City player with 500 extra-base hits.

Siri homered in the third off Alec Marsh (0-3) and the ninth off Nick Wittgren for his seventh career multihomer game. Siri has 18 home runs this season.

“I know I’ve been striking out a lot, but everyone knows that. It felt good to connect on those two,” Siri said.

Cole Ragans (2-3) was to start the second game for the Royals and Shawn Armstrong (0-0) for the Rays.

Francisco Mejía gave the Rays a 2-0 lead in the fifth when he homered off Marsh, who allowed two runs and five hits in six innings with 11 strikeouts and one walk. The strikeouts were a high for a Royals pitcher in his first three big league starts.

“Getting strikeouts the last two games were difficult for me,” Marsh said. “I thought the attack mode was good all game. I think mindset wise I knew to keep attacking and knowing I needed to make a pitch with two strikes.”

Kansas City’s Collin Snider opened the eighth with 13 consecutive balls. Luke Raley followed with a two-run single and Josh Lowe hit a sacrifice fly.

Bobby Witt Jr. hit a 424-foot homer in the fifth.