ST. PETERSBURG -- After his last start, Tyler Glasnow said he was in “search mode.” A flaw in his delivery held him back during his worst outing of the season and kept him from finding his high-octane fastball.

He found it Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field.

Glasnow bounced back in a big way as he led the Rays to a 3-1 victory over the Royals that secured a four-game series split and sent Tampa Bay to the midpoint of its schedule with a 54-27 record. The big right-hander struck out 12 of the 19 batters he faced, the third-highest total of his career, and generated a season-high 26 swinging strikes over five dominant innings.

“That's the Glasnow that I know. He can strike out everybody,” first baseman Yandy Díaz said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I think that officially makes us the best rotation in the league when he's there and when he's himself.”

Glasnow allowed six runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings in a loss to the Orioles on Tuesday, but his concerns about his delivery were more significant than his pitching line. He was out of sync and thus unable to nail down a consistent release point, which sapped his heater of some of its usual velocity.

But Glasnow went to work between starts, reviewing video with pitching coach Kyle Snyder in pursuit of the “effortless velo” that makes him elite. Specifically, they focused on tweaking his direction toward the plate. In previous outings, Glasnow felt like he had been veering to the right during his leg lift and flying open in his delivery.

Glasnow said Sunday he was most pleased with the fact that they quickly identified his mechanical glitch. On the rare occasion that was an issue against the Royals, Snyder caught it -- and Glasnow fixed it. By the end of his start, he said, it was the most comfortable he’s felt on the mound in a long time.

“I think it got better as the game went on,” Glasnow said. “That fifth inning was the first time I felt very low-effort and the velo was back up. … It felt way more natural.”

Glasnow’s fastball averaged 96.6 mph, up from 95.4 in his last start, and topped out at 98.5 mph with its usual mix of cutting and running action. Kansas City’s hitters whiffed on half of the 24 swings they took against his heater.

“Mucha gasolina,” center fielder Jose Siri said, smiling.

While it took Glasnow 89 pitches to complete five innings, that was mostly a product of his 11th career double-digit strikeout performance. He only walked one batter.

Overall, his 26 swinging strikes were one shy of the career-high mark he reached twice in 2021, the sixth-most in a game so far this season and the most in a five-inning start by any pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). 

“Pretty nasty stuff,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He's just really talented, and when he feels like he did today, he's got a chance to go out there and be pretty special. Today was a special outing.”

The Royals nearly got to Glasnow in the second inning, when Maikel Garcia and Edward Olivares pulled off a double-steal to get two runners in scoring position. Glasnow bounced a curveball that got away from catcher Christian Bethancourt, who shoveled the ball back to Glasnow as Garcia dashed home. Glasnow beat Garcia to the plate and tagged his left leg to keep Kansas City off the board.

“I just didn't want him to score,” Glasnow said. “It was a big run, especially early on, and I'm just glad I got him out.”

The lone run Glasnow allowed came in the fourth inning, when Bobby Witt Jr. hit a leadoff single, stole second and scored on a base hit by Garcia. That tied the game, as Tampa Bay had scored first on Siri’s 14th home run of the season in the third.

The Rays pulled ahead in the seventh without a hit leaving the infield. Siri worked a one-out walk and wound up on third base when Díaz tapped a ball up the middle that Witt threw wide of first base. Siri then hustled home on a wild pitch by reliever Taylor Clarke, and Harold Ramírez made it a two-run game by smacking a sacrifice fly to center field.

“The last at-bat [by Siri] could have been the biggest one, to be able to get something going,” Cash said. “Siri got on. He's probably the right guy in our lineup because of the threat to steal bases and what he can do on the bases, and we saw it.”