Seth Lugo struck out 10 in seven outstanding innings as the Kansas City Royals ended a six-game road losing streak with a 5-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
Lugo (16-8) yielded three hits and no walks in his 105-pitch outing. He tied Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal for the major league lead in wins and became Kansas City’s first pitcher to win 16 games since Jason Vargas went 18-11 in 2017.
The Royals (80-66) won for the fifth time in six games overall.
Lugo allowed a leadoff single to Gleyber Torres in the first inning, then retired 17 straight until Torres singled again with two outs in the sixth. After allowing Torres’ second hit, Lugo retired Juan Soto on a fly ball to deep left.
New York’s Austin Wells singled with one out in the seventh. Lugo retired Giancarlo Stanton on a fly ball, and then struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end the inning.
The veteran right-hander notched his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season and finished two shy of his career high. Lugo did not issue a walk for the third time this season and threw 77 of 105 pitches for strikes.
Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI single in the third off New York’s Marcus Stroman (10-8), and Salvador Perez followed with an RBI single. Perez also hit a run-scoring single in the fifth. He has five RBIs in the past two games after going 4-for-4 in with a homer in Kansas City’s 10-4 loss on Monday.
Tommy Pham added a solo homer in the seventh. Pinch hitter Maikel Garcia contributed a sacrifice fly after pinch runner Dairon Blanco stole two bases in the eighth.
Kris Bubic and John Schreiber pitched an inning apiece to finish off Kansas City’s ninth shutout of the year.
Stroman allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out four, walked two and dropped his second straight start after winning his previous three decisions.
The Yankees (83-62) were blanked for the eighth time this season and only the second time since the All-Star break. Aaron Judge (0-for-4) went homerless for the 14th straight game as the Yankees tied a season low by getting held to three hits.