Michael Massey hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the Kansas City Royals made three big defensive plays in the bottom half to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Friday night, ending a four-game skid.

Massey drove in automatic runner Michael A. Taylor, who had moved up to third on a ground ball.

Scott Barlow (5-4) got the win in relief with help from catcher Salvador Perez, who threw out Roman Quinn on an attempted steal of third in the 10th. MJ Melendez, who had thrown out Taylor Walls attempting to stretch a single into a double for the first out of the inning, ended the game with a diving catch of Francisco Mejia’s sinking liner in left field.

Jalen Beeks (2-3) took the loss for the Rays, who have won five of seven and are in position for an AL wild card.

Bobby Witt’s 16th home run put the Royals up 2-0 in the third against Rays starter Shane McClanahan. But Kansas City got only one other runner as far as second base until Taylor started the 10th there.

Witt’s 438-foot homer came after a walk to Melendez and was the first of only two hits McClanahan allowed in seven innings.

Royals starter Brady Singer gave up two runs on five hits and four walks in six innings, striking out seven.

Randy Arozarena drove in Tampa Bay’s runs with a two-out single in the sixth, tying it 2-2, after hits by David Peralta and Harold Ramirez.

After that, it was all defense for the Royals.

UP NEXT

RHP Drew Rasmussen (7-4, 2.80 ERA), who took a perfect game into the ninth inning against Baltimore on Sunday, will start Saturday for the Rays against LHP Kris Bubic (2-7, 5.11).

The game can be heard today on KMMO AM with pregame at 2:30, with game time at 3;10.