Jeff Niemann: Tampa Bay Rays Sweep the Kansas City Royals with 4-1 Win

The Tampa Bay Rays finished their homestand 7-3 after finishing the four-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals Thursday. During the homestand the Rays outscored their opponents 47-36.

The sweep marked the eighth time in club history that they have completed a four-game sweep. It was the third at Tropicana Field and the first at the Trop since they swept the Royals July 28-31, 2005.

After Thursday’s game Joe Maddon shared his thoughts on the sweep:

“First of all, Kansas City really is an impressive group of young baseball players. They are going to be really good,” Maddon said. “They are definitely heading in the right direction, don’t be confused by that. We did win four games but against a really good, young ball club. We need to win games like this at home, we need to play better at home and that’s something we haven’t done well to this moment.”

Tampa Bay was fortunate to get another excellent performance out of Jeff Niemann. He is 6-0 in his last nine starts since returning from the DL on June 20.

Niemann never doubted his ability following a slow start to the season:

"It's just one of those things where we were close and it just came down to a few pitches here and there in the early going in the beginning of the year that led to us not having success so we are trying to fix those issues and get back where we were in the first half of last year."

The Rays continue to be anchored by good starting pitching and phenomenal defense. Add to that the timely hits that they have been missing all season are finally starting to come in.

For whatever reason, the Rays have played some of their best baseball in the month of August in recent years. According to Stats, Inc. the Rays lead the majors with a 60-34 (.638) record in the month of August since 2008.

The team that has been pathetic at the plate for most of the season finally found some offensive momentum. In order to stay in the playoff race the Rays will need to maintain this progress into the head-to-head series against the New York Yankees.

Jamal Wilburg is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained first-hand.

You can follow him on Twitter @JWilburg