KANSAS CITY, Mo. — — Jesús Luzardo struck out nine in six innings, J.T. Realmuto, Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Alec Bohm hit home runs, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Saturday night.
Luzardo (7-4) outpitched Royals All-Star selection Michael Wacha, dominating the Royals lineup through the first three innings, striking out six — five with his sweeper — while allowing only an infield hit. He allowed a run on four hits overall.
Luzardo has allowed fewer than three earned runs in nine of his last 10 starts, lowering his ERA from 5.77 on May 8 to 3.75.
The Phillies have won eight straight starts by Luzardo.
Wacha (5-6) escaped unscathed from an adventurous first inning, including throwing Bryce Harper’s checked-swing single down the right-field line and walking Bohm on 12 pitches to load the bases after Bohm successfully challenged a third-strike call.
The Phillies broke the scoreless tie in the fourth when Realmuto connected for a 399-foot line drive to left-center and a 2-0 lead.
Rincones followed two pitches later with a home run into the right-field bullpen, the fourth set of back-to-back homers by Philadelphia this year.
Bohm’s sixth-inning leadoff home run, his 11th, gave the Phillies a 4-1 advantage.
Bohm and Rincones doubled in the eighth, capping the scoring.
Kyle Schwarber had three of Philadelphia’s 12 hits.
Phillies pitchers struck out 15 with no walks.
Kansas City scored in the fourth on an infield hit by Nick Loftin, who snapped an 0 for 23 skid.
Wacha allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings, striking out seven. The three home runs allowed were his most since July 24, 2024 against the Diamondbacks.
Kansas City batted 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position. The Royals have hit .118 in such at-bats while losing 8 of 9 games.
Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (3-5, 6.04 ERA) opposes Royals RHP Luinder Avila (3-3, 5.40) on Sunday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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