Seth Lugo dominates the Yankees for his 16th victory as the Royals win 5-0

NEW YORK (AP) — Seth Lugo struck out 10 in seven masterful innings and Salvador Perez hit two run-scoring singles to reach 100 RBIs for the second time as the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees 5-0 on Tuesday night.

Pitching in New York City for the first time since spending his first seven seasons across town with the Mets from 2016-22, Lugo absolutely dominated.

“I’m looking forward to going back and watching that, to be honest, because he must have been on the corners all night,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. "He got the breaking ball going to get the swing and miss. He elevated when he needed to. I mean, that was a pitching clinic.”

Tommy Pham homered and Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI single for the Royals, who remained 3 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. They hold a 2 1/2-game edge over Minnesota for the league's second wild card.

New York's advantage in the AL East was shaved to a half-game over second-place Baltimore, which won 5-3 at Boston.

“We know they’re in line to make the playoffs," Lugo said. “With the atmosphere here in New York, I think the emphasis for a lot of guys on the team is getting used to this kind of atmosphere. This is what we’re going to face.”

In a potential postseason preview, Lugo (16-8) carved up a full-strength Yankees lineup that entered leading the majors in homers and ranked second in runs.

“That was probably as good a performance (as there's been) against us this year. We were silent,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “He's throwing the kitchen sink at you. He's changing speeds.”

The right-hander allowed only three singles and walked none, retiring 17 straight batters after Gleyber Torres' bloop hit to begin the bottom of the first.

Torres snapped the string on another soft single off Lugo with two outs in the sixth.

“I think he was mixing up pitches really well tonight. He was pounding the strike zone,” Yankees slugger Juan Soto said. “It's tough with a guy who has like nine pitches, and he was showing every pitch today. So, he was throwing everything, he was confident about it, and he just kept us off balance.”

Kris Bubic and John Schreiber each fanned two in a perfect inning to complete the three-hitter, as New York failed to advance a runner to second base. It was Kansas City's first shutout against the Yankees since May 2015 at Kauffman Stadium.

Lugo tied Atlanta ace Chris Sale and Detroit lefty Tarik Skubal for most wins in the majors.

“I was locating all of my pitches and I don’t think there was a pitch that I didn’t think I could throw where I wanted," Lugo said. “It was just one of those nights. I had everything working.”

The right-hander outpitched former Mets teammate Marcus Stroman (10-8), who permitted three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

No. 9 batter Kyle Isbel scored twice after leadoff singles for the Royals, who had dropped six consecutive road games. They won for the fifth time in 13 games overall and improved to 2-4 against the Yankees this season.

“That lineup is relentless so you don’t ever really get comfortable,” Lugo said. “I think it really comes down to the game yesterday. Tough loss and really wanted to even the series right there. So I think it was important.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Michael Lorenzen (left hamstring strain) was tagged for three runs and five hits over 1 2/3 innings during a rehab start with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He threw 38 pitches. It's possible Lorenzen could rejoin the big league rotation next week. ... LHP Will Smith (back spasms) planned to throw another bullpen at less than full intensity. "He’s still not completely symptom-free in his back. But he’s working through the bullpens,” Quatraro said. “It’s improving, it’s just not completely resolved.”

Yankees: Boone didn't rule out a return this season for infielder DJ LeMahieu (right hip impingement), but also said he wouldn't count on it, either.

UP NEXT

All-Star LHP Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.33 ERA) starts for Kansas City against rookie RHP Luis Gil (13-6, 3.24) in the rubber match of the three-game series Wednesday night.

The first Royals lefty with 200 strikeouts in a season, Ragans pitched six shutout innings to beat Minnesota last Friday night. Gil returned that day from a lower back strain that landed him on the injured list and threw six innings of one-hit ball in a 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Mike Fitzpatrick, The Associated Press