Wander Franco homers in return to Rays after 2-day benching

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, (AP) — Tampa Bay’s Wander Franco homered in his first at-bat and added an RBI single one inning later after the Rays benched him for two games in response to his handling of frustrating situations this season. Franco was second in the batting order for Saturday’s game against the Kanas City Royals and homered on on a 2-1 cutter from Jordan Lyles, a 417-foot drive to center. After being sent home Thursday, the first of the two games he didn’t play, Franco was in uniform and in the dugout for Friday night’s game. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash has declined to discuss specific incidents.