The Tampa Bay Rays will face the Kansas City Royals FREE LIVE STREAMING Major League Baseball from Kaufman Stadium on Monday night at 8:10 PM ET

Tampa Bay (4-3) received another strong pitching effort Sunday, but couldn't finish off a three-game sweep of Texas in a 3-0 home loss. Alex Cobb allowed three hits, walked one and struck out six in seven shutout innings before reliever Joel Peralta allowed a two-run homer in the eighth.

The Rays have limited opponents to three runs or fewer in five of seven contests and rank in the majors' top 10 with a 2.57 ERA.

However, they surrendered seven or more runs five times while dropping six of the seven meetings with the Royals last season. Tampa Bay ended up with a 7.95 ERA in the series, its highest mark versus any opponent.

The Royals (2-3) have hit .214 with runners in scoring position while totaling 16 runs with no homers, but they're looking to pick up where they left off against the Rays last season.

The Royals counter with Jason Vargas, who was sharp in his Kansas City debut after signing a $32 million, four-year contract in the offseason. He allowed one run and five hits over seven innings in a 2-1, 10-inning loss at Detroit on Wednesday.

"He was great," manager Ned Yost said. "I'll take that kind of pitching performance every game right now."

The left-hander had been 3-1 with a 1.32 ERA over a four-start stretch against the Rays before surrendering five runs and 10 hits in four innings of a 7-1 home loss Sept. 3 while with the Angels.

The Rays, who have totaled two runs in their three losses, are hitting .208 with runners in scoring position after going 0 for 11 in those situations Sunday.

The game will be live streaming online atwww.stream2watch.me › baseball‎