The Rays are synonymous with pitching innovation, and on Thursday afternoon they very nearly reached the pinnacle. Tampa Bay came two outs from no-hitting the Royals while starting the game with an opener in an eventual 13-2 victory at Tropicana Field that clinched a split of the four-game series. Craig Kimbrel gave up Kansas City’s first and only hit with one out in the ninth inning, a no-doubt two-run homer from catcher Carter Jensen. Reliever Casey Legumina started the game for the Rays, going 1 1/3 perfect frames, and Ian Seymour took the reins from there. The lefty did not allow a baserunner until walking Starling Marte in the sixth inning, and he ultimately went 6 2/3 innings without giving up a hit. Seymour had seven strikeouts along with the one walk. Kimbrel then entered to try to polish it off. He walked the first batter (Marte again), then struck out Tyler Tolbert before allowing the homer to Jensen. “I hate that I wasn’t able to close it out," Kimbrel said. “It was an unbelievable job by Seymour. Sometimes, you want to see a guy keep going \[and pitch the ninth inning\
