Seth Lugo tossed six shutout innings for his major league-best 11th win as the Kansas City Royals beat the visiting Cleveland Guardians 6-2 on Sunday afternoon, taking three of four games in the series.
Lugo (11-2) fanned 10 while allowing four hits and a walk to earn his 14th quality start, matching Logan Gilbert for most in the majors.
The Royals took a 1-0 first-inning lead when Salvador Perez was initially called out on an inning-ending double play. Kansas City’s challenge overturned the call, allowing Bobby Witt Jr. to score.
With one out in the second, Freddy Fermin and Garrett Hampson slapped consecutive doubles inside third base for a 2-0 Royals lead.
Dairon Blanco opened the fifth with a bunt single and moved to second on Maikel Garcia’s sacrifice bunt, ending Logan Allen’s outing after 4 1/3 innings. Allen (8-4) allowed three runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
Blanco stole third and scored on Witt’s triple against reliever Eli Morgan, who pitched for the first time since May 29. Vinnie Pasquantino singled through the drawn-in infield for a 4-0 Kansas City advantage.
Witt and Pasquantino each had three of the Royals’ 11 hits. Witt’s nine triples and 107 hits each rank second in baseball. Pasquantino has an RBI in nine straight home games.
In the seventh, Perez hit his 14th homer, a two-run shot which barely cleared the left-field wall.
Kansas City has won five of seven on its current 10-game homestand and four of six against the American League Central-leading Guardians.
Jose Ramirez’s two-out RBI double put Cleveland on the board in the eighth. Ramirez tied Jim Thome for third on the franchise’s all-time list with 620 extra-base hits.
Josh Naylor’s RBI single to center capped the scoring.
Bo Naylor collected three of the Guardians’ eight hits as Cleveland lost for the fourth time in five games following a seven-game win streak.
–Field Level Media
