Lugo's 10-year celebration spoiled by Rays' HR barrage, almost no-hit effort

ST. PETERSBURG -- Seth Lugo had plenty of reasons to celebrate this week. His start on Thursday against the Rays at Tropicana Field just wasn’t one of them.

Lugo allowed seven runs and three homers over five innings as the Royals fell, 13-2, in a game where they were two outs away from being on the wrong end of a combined no-hitter.

“It was a pretty rough day,” Lugo said.

Monday was a happier day. That’s when Lugo reached 10 years of MLB service time. In the history of the game, there have been more than 23,000 players who could call themselves Major Leaguers. Less than 10% of them can say they had as much longevity in the big leagues as the 36-year-old right-hander.

Lugo’s teammates gifted him a cake and a set of custom golf clubs to celebrate the occasion.

“That was pretty cool,” Lugo said of hitting the 10-year mark. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for the last couple years. To get there, it's something I'm very proud of.”

Not many would have thought Lugo would get there when he was a 34th-round Draft pick by the Mets out of Centenary College of Louisiana in 2011. Players with that kind of pedigree don’t often make it to The Show, much less stick around for more than a decade.

However, by 2016, Lugo was a big leaguer. He worked mostly as a starter through his first two seasons with the Mets, but after a 2017 season in which he was bothered by right elbow and shoulder injuries and logged a 4.71 ERA over 101 1/3 innings, he was moved to the bullpen for the bulk of five seasons.

But starting was Lugo’s passion, and he got a chance to do it once again once he signed with the Padres as a free agent ahead of the 2023 season. He posted a 3.57 ERA over 26 starts that season. He then signed on with the Royals in 2024 and authored his best year as a Major Leaguer.

He went 16-9 with a 3.00 ERA across 206 2/3 frames. He became a first-time All-Star, was the runner-up for the American League Cy Young Award and helped guide the Royals to the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

“After getting my debut and a couple of rocky years, you don’t really think you are going to get [to 10 years],” Lugo said. “You keep grinding, putting in the work, and the next thing you know, it’s 10 years.”

“To have a guy do that while he's here with us and what he's meant to this organization is really special,” manager Matt Quatraro added.

Lugo has been generally reliable during his three years with Kansas City, but Thursday’s start was one to forget. His seven runs and three home runs allowed tied season-high marks. Rays star third baseman Junior Caminero, who hit three home runs on the day, didn’t miss the curveball that Lugo left in the middle of the plate in the first inning or the slider that he elevated in the fifth.

“I hung two breaking balls over the middle. I think everyone in their lineup is going to hit those,” Lugo said.

Lugo also gave up a three-run homer in the fourth inning to outfielder Victor Mesa Jr., who was able to barrel up a sweeper on the inside half that Lugo thought “was a pretty nasty pitch.”

On the other side, the Royals were shut down against Rays opener Casey Legumina over 1 1/3 innings before left-hander Ian Seymour came in and threw 6 2/3 innings. Those two gave up only three hard-hit balls (95+ mph exit velocity) through eight combined hitless frames before the Royals finally broke through on Carter Jensen’s two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel with one out in the ninth.

The dinger, Jensen’s 11th this season, extended his hitting streak to 16 consecutive games, the longest active hitting streak in the Majors.

“This isn't really one that you're going to think about or want to think about,” Jensen said after the loss. “Just turn the page and move on.”

The Royals will turn the page with a three-game series against the AL Central-rival White Sox beginning Friday at Rate Field. The big question is whether Bobby Witt Jr. will be in the lineup. That hasn’t been the case since June 18, when he suffered a right knee sprain against the Cardinals.

However, Witt did work out prior to each of the team’s four games at Tropicana FIeld -- running the bases, fielding ground balls and hitting in the batting cage. On Thursday, he stood at the plate during Michael Wacha’s bullpen session to get a look at live pitching.

When asked if he expects Witt will be in the lineup Friday, Quatraro said, “That’s my hope, yes.”