Sinking Royals vow to 'keep fighting' against surging Dodgers

Royals manager Matt Quatraro needs to find some answers for his team as the Los Angeles Dodgers -- who are tied for baseball's best record -- visit Kansas City for a three-game series beginning Friday night.

The Royals have lost five games in a row and are 7-15 in June, with offense an issue during the current losing streak. Kansas City has tallied just four runs and 23 hits in those five games, and the team is coming off back-to-back shutouts.

On Thursday, Tampa Bay pitcher Shane Baz threw eight scoreless innings as the visiting Rays won 4-0 to complete a three-game sweep.

Quatraro, whose team is five games under .500 at 38-43, said after the loss that team morale is not suffering.

"We're not giving up on anybody," he said. "We're not running from anybody. We're not running from the fact that it hasn't been good enough. We just have to keep fighting, and that's the best part. ... We got a game tomorrow. We got a chance to turn it around."

But that will be a tough task against the Dodgers, winners of four straight games and 10 of their past 12. They are 20 games over .500, tied with the Detroit Tigers for MLB's best record at 51-31.

They Royals will send rookie Noah Cameron (2-3, 2.08 ERA) to the mound Friday as he seeks his first win in nearly a month. Aside from a six-run outing against the Yankees on June 10, the 25-year-old left-hander has allowed just five runs in his seven other starts.

He took the 5-1 loss to the Padres in San Diego last Saturday, when he gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings. Cameron will face the Dodgers for the first time in his career.

Los Angeles will counter with right-hander Dustin May (4-5, 4.46 ERA), who has not faced the Royals in his 60 career appearances. He is coming off a 7-3 loss to the Washington Nationals on Saturday, when he gave up three runs on five hits in six innings.

The Dodgers bring a dynamic offense to Kauffman Stadium. They lead the majors in runs (459), hits (743), home runs (128), batting average (.265) and on-base-plus-slugging-percentage (.803).

Shohei Ohtani homered Thursday for the third time in four games as the Dodgers won 3-1 to complete a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies. The superstar has feasted on the Royals throughout his eight-year career. His .359 batting average in 27 games is his second highest against any team. He also has homered four times in 11 games at Kauffman Stadium.

Max Muncy has enjoyed a strong June for the Dodgers, hitting .328 in 22 games to lift his season average from .227 to .250. He's also hit six of his 12 homers during the month.

The Dodgers' third baseman told The Orange County Register he felt certain he would emerge from a poor start and silence fan criticism.

"The fans want their team to be the best, and I love them for that," Muncy said. "They want the Dodgers to be the best they can possibly be. There's always someone better in their mind. That's OK. I'm still going to go out there and play as hard as I can for this team, the organization, the fans."