Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena, front, slides into second for a double past the tag of Kansas City shortstop Mike Aviles in the fourth inning. Kansas City defeated Tampa Bay, 6-1, on Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? Billy Butler is enjoying his torrid stretch at the plate, even if he isn’t sure why he’s in such a groove offensively.

Butler homered and drove in four runs, Kyle Davies picked up his first victory in more than a month and the Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-1, Sunday to salvage a split of their four-game series.

Butler, who was sent back to the minors for a month on May 29, is hitting .341 with four homers and 14 RBIs in nine games since the All-Star break.

“When you’re going good, you’re going to produce runs,” Butler said. “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything different, but obviously I’m swinging it better. Maybe I’m getting more comfortable. I’m not worried about anything.

“Maybe I made some adjustments, but maybe it’s just relaxing and swinging at good pitches. That’s the key to hitting if you can swing at the right pitches.”

Butler hit an RBI double in the fourth and a three-run drive off the left-field foul pole in the seventh on a full-count pitch from Al Reyes.

“It is the first time I’ve seen the guy, so I didn’t feel comfortable going up there and swinging at the first pitch,” Butler said of facing Reyes. “After a while, I saw a lot of pitches off him and saw his timing. I just got a pitch to drive. I feel like I’m a better later count hitter. The more pitches I see, the better timing I get. At that point in the at-bat, I saw every pitch he had.”

The Rays walked David DeJesus intentionally to pitch to Butler.

“You’ve got to earn respect and maybe I did a little bit,” Butler said. “I’m a young player. They’d rather pitch to me than Dave. He’s a lefty and he’s having a good year.”

Davies (4-2) gave up one run and six hits in five-plus innings, getting his first win since June 17 at St. Louis.