Rays 4, Royals 3: Evan Longoria had a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning and Tampa Bay held on to defeat visiting Kansas City for its 11th victory in 14 games.

Brandon Guyer collected three hits and scored twice while James Loney added two hits and an RBI for the Rays. Brad Boxberger (2-1) completed 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory and Jake McGee allowed two runs in the ninth before striking out Omar Infante with the tying run at second base to notch his sixth save.

Lorenzo Cain went 4-for-4 and scored twice while Salvador Perez had three RBIs, including a two-run single in the ninth for the Royals. Kansas City starter Jason Vargas (8-4) gave up two runs on six hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings to lose for only the second time in nine starts.

Cain and Eric Hosmer each singled with one out in the fifth and a groundout by Perez pushed home the game’s first run. Ben Zobrist singled and Guyer followed with a double to open the sixth for the Rays and both came home when Longoria slapped a base hit to right field for a 2-1 lead.

Tampa Bay reliever Joel Peralta gave up two hits with one out in the eighth, but induced a fly out from Billy Butler before McGee came on to retire pinch-hitter Danny Valencia on a fly ball to end the inning. The Rays tacked on two important runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Loney RBI double and Logan Forsythe’s sacrifice fly.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay RHP Jeremy Hellickson made his first start of 2014 after returning from an elbow injury and yielded one run on six hits over 4 1/3 innings. … Butler improved to 11-for-16 in his career against Hellickson with two hits in two at-bats Tuesday. … The Royals signed veteran LHP Joe Saunders on Tuesday and sent him to Triple-A Omaha. Saunders, who won 11 games with Seattle in 2013, was 0-5 in eight starts with Texas before being released last week.