KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer, Seth Lugo once again looked like the pitcher whose brilliant first half made him an All-Star, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to five games.
Lugo (14-7), who had been just 2-3 with 5.23 ERA since the All-Star break, allowed four hits and three walks over seven innings while striking out eight. That tied him with the Braves’ Chris Sale and the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal for the big league lead in wins.
Salvador Perez added two hits and three RBIs for the Royals, who have outscored their opponents 37-7 during their winning streak. Kansas City never trailed in any of those games against the AL Central-rival Twins, Reds and Angels.
“It’s something we all feel together,” Lugo said simply. “It’s a team sport and we’re all doing it together.”
Lugo only allowed two hits until the seventh, when Brandon Drury drew a walk and Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell followed with doubles to draw the Angels to 3-2. Lugo bounced back by getting Taylor Ward to pop out and end the inning.
Kris Bubic gave up Zach Neto’s homer in the eighth before John Schreiber worked the ninth for his second save.
“We battled him, battled him, battled him,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Lugo. “At the end, we got some runs on him, but we just couldn’t put him away. If you can stay with a good pitcher like that, usually toward the end, hopefully you get an opportunity. We started getting to him in the seventh, but by that time he’d already did his damage.”
Washington confirmed that hitting coach Johnny Washington was ejected during the game for arguing balls and strikes.
“He thought he had to do what he had to do to protect his hitters,” the manager said.
Carson Fulmer (0-4) allowed three runs — two earned — and five hits with three walks over four innings for Los Angeles.
He was in trouble right from the start, when Michael Massey led off with a single and Fulmer walked two batters in the first inning. And while he was able to wiggle out of that jam, it drove Fulmer’s pitch count up and led to a short night.
Massey walked leading off the third and scored on Perez’s single. But the first big blow for Kansas City came in the fourth, when DeJong hit his two-run shot into the left-field bullpen. It came one pitch after he had yanked a would-be homer just foul.
Perez added a two-run double off Angels reliever Victor Mederos in the seventh to restore the Royals’ cushion.
“I mean, that was the base hit of the night right there,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It separated us again a little bit with two innings to go.”
Angels LHP Tyler Anderson (9-11, 3.30 ERA) starts the second game of the series on Tuesday night. LHP Cole Ragans (10-7, 3.18) goes for his sixth win in his last seven starts for Kansas City.
