Seth Lugo bounced back to throw a quality start, and Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino each homered in a 5-2 win over the Rangers Tuesday night. The Royals are four games over .500 for the first time since May 25 when they were 29-25.
Seth Lugo has been wobbly in his last few starts, and fears this could be another shaky outing increased when Corey Seager hit a solo home run in the first. But those worries proved largely unfounded as Lugo kept the Rangers in check most of the rest of the night. Vinnie Pasquantino quickly equalized things with a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the inning, his 24th of the season.
Joc Pederson homered in the fourth off Lugo, a solo shot. But aside from the two solo home runs, Lugo would give up just one other hit the rest of the night. He exited in the seventh inning after 6.1 innings, with five strikeouts and two walks, his longest outing since July 3 against the Mariners.
Meanwhile, the Royals could hardly touch Rangers starter Merrill Kelly. He retired the next 15 hitters after Vinnie’s bomb. In the sixth, Mike Yastrzemski homered to tie the game 2-2, his fifth home run in 16 games with the Royals. Fortunately, that was enough for manager Bruce Bochy, who lifted Kelly despite just 71 pitches. Reliever Hoby Milner gave up a leadoff double to Vinnie Pasquantino, then loaded the bases with infield singles to Maikel Garcia and Randall Grichuk.
Reliever Cole Winn came in and immediately hit Jonathan India to score a run and give the Royals a 3-2 lead. The Royals had a chance for more, but a wild pitch hit the backstop and caromed back to catcher Jonathan Heim without giving Garcia a chance to score from third. John Rave struck out and Kyle Isbel weakly grounded to first. First baseman Josh Smith got the out at home, and Isbel was out at first when it seemed he slowed down to avoid contact with Smith at the bag.
But Bobby Witt Jr. picked him up in the eighth with a long 446-foot two-run home run to center, the 100th of his career.
John Schreiber pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the year. The Royals are temporarily tied with the Guardians, pending the outcome of their game in Arizona tonight, and pick up a game on the Seattle Mariners, just 2.5 games back of them for a playoff spot. They clinch at least a split of the series and can take it tomorrow evening when Noah Cameron takes the mound. The Rangers have scratched starter Jacob deGrom for tomorrow and have not yet announced a starter.
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