Yankees have no answers for Seth Lugo in 5-0 loss to Royals

The Yankees lineup couldn’t match Seth Lugo They allowed just three hits in their 5-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

These are the main points…

-Marcus Stroman bent but not broken on Tuesday. The Royals had runners on base for most of the game — some of it due in part to poor defense behind Stroman — but the veteran right-handed pitcher would work his way out of trouble early. Kansas City, however, would get on the board with two runs thanks to a Bobby Witt Jr. RBI single and Salvador Perez RBI double.

Perez reached Stroman again in the fifth inning and hit an RBI single up the middle to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.

Stroman was scheduled to pitch in the sixth inning, but was left with runners behind Mark Leiter Jr. would escape without allowing another flight.

Stroman allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four batters in 5.1 innings (89 pitches/56 strikes).

– Lugo was on the other side for the Royals and dominated. Gleyber Torres led off the game with a single, but the right-hander then retired the next 17 Yankees in a row. Torres collected the team’s second hit and finished 2-for-4. Torres has now hit safely in 18 of his last 19 games, including a season-long streak of 11 games.

Austin Wells (1-of-3) scored the team’s third and final hit of the game.

– With Lugo out of the game, the Yankees lineup was still struggling to get runners on base. New York didn’t reach base in the eighth or ninth innings and struck out a total of four times against the Royals’ relievers.

The Yankees struck out 14 batters on Tuesday.

Aaron Rechter And Juan Soto combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. Jasson Dominguez, for the second time in a row, the game ended 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

– In replacement of Stroman, the Yankees bullpen struggled a bit. Leiter Jr. allowed a solo shot in the seventh and Tim Mayza allowed a run and two hits in the eighth inning to give the Royals a 5-0 lead.

Most Valuable Player of the Match: Seth Lugo

It couldn’t have been anyone else. Lugo kept the Yankees off the bases and more importantly off the board.

Lugo pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no hits while striking out 10 batters.

What’s next?

The Yankees and Royals play their three-game series on Wednesday night in The Bronx.

Luis Gil (13-6, 3.24 ERA) will make his second start off the IL as the Royals Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.33 ERA) took the mound.