Lugo tosses 'exceptional' outing in KC's loss to Astros (2024)

HOUSTON -- Seth Lugo threw seven solid innings Friday night while the Royals nearly stole a victory from the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Royals were no-hit into the eighth, but knotted it in the ninth before James McArthur allowed a walk-off double to Jose Altuve in Kansas City’s 3-2 loss.

Lugo surrendered one run on six hits with nine strikeouts.

It was his 19th quality start of the season, which is tied for third most in baseball, and the right-hander now leads the Major Leagues with 179 innings pitched.

“He was exceptional,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Spun the ball really well, located. He got his sinker in, [threw] good changeups. He had it all working. Seven innings of one-run baseball against that team is a phenomenal effort.”

Lugo has struggled of late, allowing at least six runs in three of his last four starts. In his last outing Sunday against the Phillies, the right-hander was tagged for six runs (five earned) in 5 1/3 innings.

Lugo credited his preparation between starts for his performance Friday night.

“I was working on some stuff,” Lugo said. “I was trying to make an adjustment to put together more quality innings.”

Lugo added that he’s been trying to “get back in my groove, so it’s a step in the right direction.”

“Just a little bit of feel with some of my pitches, how to get some breaking balls to some better locations, be more consistent with my fastball,” Lugo said of the adjustments he’s been working on.

The right-hander had a balanced attack, using nine different pitches. He threw 16 four-seam fastballs, 16 cutters, 16 sinkers, 12 slurves and 11 sliders, plus four other pitches.

“He is usually efficient,” Quatraro said. “He gets a lot of early swings. They know he’s going to be around the zone. He got soft contact. He got ground balls. He got more strikeouts [on] three or four pitches tonight as well, so really, there is nothing he didn’t do tonight.”

He got 11 whiffs, three of which came off the cutter.

“I thought I threw the ball pretty well,” Lugo said. “I thought I mixed speeds. I moved the ball around. I kept the fastballs down in the zone when I needed to.”

Lugo was able to keep Kansas City in the game as Houston starter Framber Valdez threw seven no-hit innings.

Kyle Isbel broke up the possible combined no-hitter with a single through the left side off Bryan Abreu with two outs in the eighth. Isbel hit a three-run double off Abreu in the seventh inning on Thursday night.

Paul DeJong tied it at 2 with a two-run homer into the Crawford Boxes off Josh Hader with one out in the ninth.

“We were dead most of the game,” Quatraro said. “Credit to Framber and Abreu. Those guys kept us in check. We took advantage of an error. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re playing good teams. They make a mistake. Paul got a slider … and he’s got game-changing power. We’ve seen that since we’ve gotten him. We’re right back in the game there.”

DeJong said he was looking for something out over the plate to hit.

“He’s been tying me up in, especially up and in with that fastball,” DeJong said. “He left a slider out there in the middle, kind of low. It was right where I wanted something. I didn’t hit it great, but I got enough of it.”

“Izzie coming off the bench with the no-hitter in the eighth and getting a knock, that was huge for us,” DeJong said. “That kind of at least got the monkey off our back in that situation. Losing Vinnie hurts a little bit. He’s such a big part of this clubhouse. He’s a character, and we all love him and miss him, but it’s one of those things where we could have stolen that game, and they were in control the whole game.”