ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Evan Longoria drove in two runs, Jeremy Hellickson went 4 1-3 innings in his season debut, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Tuesday night. The Rays opened the sixth with three consecutive hits, including a two-run single by Longoria off Jason Vargas (8-4), to take a 2-1 lead. Vargas, who allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings, was coming off seven innings in the Royals 4-0 win Wednesday against Minnesota. Hellickson, coming back after arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in January, gave up one run and six hits. James Loney had an RBI double and Logan Forsythe hit a sacrifice fly as Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead in the eighth. The Rays were aided when Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar fielded Longorias grounder with no outs, but was beaten to second base by Brandon Guyer, who had a leadoff bunt single. Salvador Perez had three RBIs, including a two-run single off Jake McGee in the ninth that pulled the Royals within 4-3. Kansas City had at least one baserunner in all nine innings. McGee, the fourth Tampa Bay reliever, went the final 1 1-3 innings for his sixth save. The left-hander entered with two on and two outs in the eighth, and got a flyball from pinch-hitter Danny Valencia. Kansas Citys Lorenzo Cain reached base five times — four hits and a walk. The Royals went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position through eight innings. Brad Boxberger (2-1) replaced Hellickson in the fifth with runners on first and third with one out and gave up an RBI grounder to Perez that put Kansas City ahead 1-0. NOTES: The Royals signed LHP Joe Saunders to a minor league deal and will assign him to Triple-A Omaha. ... Rays manager Joe Maddon said OF David DeJesus (broken left hand) should be back by early August, while OF Wil Myers (broken right wrist) could return in mid-August. ... Kansas City manager Ned Yost said OF Nori Aoki (strained left groin) could return just before or right after the All-Star break. ... Tampa Bay SS Yunel Escobar (shoulder) started a rehab assignment with Single-A Charlotte. ... Royals RHP Yordano Ventura (6-7) and Rays RHP Alex Cobb (4-6) are the scheduled starters for the series finale Wednesday night. Vince Carter Jersey . "Im proud, obviously. Its been a long day, but now Im a Crystal Palace player, Im very happy," Bannan said. "The seasons been started now for a couple of weeks and Ive not featured at Villa. DeMar DeRozan Jersey .C. -- Gleason Fournier scored the shootout winner as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Abbotsford Heat 4-3 Friday in American Hockey League action. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/. Raymond, 31, started 15 regular-season games for the Stamps in 2013, racking up 51 tackles. He also returned two kickoffs for 79 yards including a 61-yarder. C.J. Miles Jersey . Karlovic of Croatia used his big serve to beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7). Kohlschreiber had lost all of his three previous matches against Istomin but the German broke serve for a decisive 3-2 lead in the third set and held on to reach his first final of the year. Kyle Lowry Jersey . The Philadelphia Eagles acquired running back Darren Sproles from the New Orleans Saints for a fifth-round draft pick on Tuesday.Bryan Colangelo has admitted to tanking. The former Toronto Raptors general manager spoke to the MIT Sports Analytics Conference in Toronto on Friday where he said that he intended for the Raptors to finish as close to the Eastern Conference basement as possible in the lockout shortened 2011-12 season in hope of winning the NBA Draft lottery. "Admittedly, I will say, I tried to tank a couple years ago," said Colangelo to the conference. "And I didnt come out and say, Coach (Dwane Casey), youve got to lose games. I never said that. I wanted to have him establish a winning tradition and a culture and all of that, but I wanted to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players, and with that comes losing. Theres just no way to avoid that, but I never once said, Youve got to lose this game.dddddddddddd" The Raptors finished the 2011-12 season 23-43, good for 11th in the Eastern Conference, 12 games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for the final playoff spot in the East, and the eighth-worst record in the NBA. The team neither rose, nor fell in the lottery, receiving the eighth-overall pick in the 2012 draft where they selected Terrence Ross out of the University of Washington. The 2007 NBA Executive of the Year (with the Phoenix Suns) was speaking on a proposal currently in front of the NBA Board of Governors which would see the draft lottery and any incentive to bottom out eliminated. Colangelo was relieved of his general manager position last May in favour of Masai Ujiri and eventually resigned his post as Raptors president the following month. ' ' '