The Royals capped a perfect homestand on Sunday and then took their winning ways on the road.
Their 5-3 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Tuesday night pushed the Royals’ win streak to nine games, marking their longest win streak since they went on a nine-game run from July 19-28, 2017.
In win No. 9, the Royals just kept rolling. Seth Lugo overcame a long 28-pitch first inning in which he loaded the bases with one out and allowed one run on a sacrifice fly. But Lugo got out of trouble by striking out Ernie Clement, and then he didn’t allow another run in his five total innings.
The Blue Jays made Lugo work, but he pitched out of trouble. With a runner on third and one out in the second inning, Lugo struck out Myles Straw and Brett Bateman to get out of danger. With two runners on and one out in the fourth, Lugo induced a double play.
The Royals’ bullpen took over and delivered scoreless innings from John Schreiber and Connor Thomas, who bounced back with three big outs after he hit Andrés Giménez in the seventh. Recently, the Royals have been relying on Nate Pearson and Steven Cruz in the back end of games, and Tuesday was no different. Pearson – the Blue Jays’ first-round Draft pick in 2017 – worked around a tricky bases-loaded jam for a scoreless eighth inning.
Even after the Royals widened their lead in the ninth, Cruz still entered in a non-save situation and received a huge lift from his defense. On Nathan Lukes’ two-run single, left fielder Isaac Collins, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and second baseman Tyler Tolbert combined to throw out Lukes trying to advance to second to end the game.
And the offense did enough to back that pitching. Salvador Perez provided the go-ahead two-out RBI single in the fifth against Max Scherzer. Nick Loftin scored in the sixth on Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s error, and Carter Jensen’s sacrifice fly gave the Royals more insurance.