Royals pitcher Seth Lugo spent the bulk of his first seven big-league seasons as a reliever before making what at the time was a career-best 26 starts for the San Diego Padres in 2023.
The following season Lugo signed with the Royals — and he’s been a key cog in their rotation ever since.
Despite making 250 more relief appearances than starts in his major-league career, Lugo reached an impressive milestone Wednesday night during the Royals’ game against the White Sox at Rate Field.
When he struck out Chicago center fielder Tristan Peters — looking — in the fourth inning, it was the 1,000th strikeout of Lugo’s career. The 36-year-old right-hander became the 46th active pitcher to reach 1,000 punchouts.
“Yeah, that was pretty cool,” Lugo said. “You know, I noticed last season I was close, so I have been keeping up. I was hoping that wouldn’t be my last strikeout of the night. But that’s alright, it’s cool to get there.”
Lugo allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings with two walks and the four strikeouts.
The active leader in strikeouts? Detroit’s Justin Verlander with 3,554, but he’s currently on the 60-day injured list.
This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 8:00 PM.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com ’
