Seth Lugo retires 14 straight games in first complete game, Royals beat White Sox 4-1

“The efficiency, the striking out, all of that was phenomenal,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I’m just glad he not only went the distance but won the game.”

Lugo said he had been trying to finish a game for a long time.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always said I want to play every inning of the game,” he said. “I finally did that today.”

Nicky Lopez took a pitch in the sixth inning and scored on a two-out single by Pham to break the 0-0 tie.

In the eighth inning, Hunter Renfroe singled to score off Bobby Witt Jr., breaking the 1-1 tie. The Royals collected five hits and scored three runs against reliever John Brebbia (0-5).

“I was just looking for something a little higher in the zone, something I could hit in the air,” Renfroe said. “Just trying to get it in there the best I could. He threw a slider up. I just tried to take it and hit it to right field.”

“We took what we were given,” Quatraro said. “We hit the ball the other way. There were two-out hits.”

Witt had three hits in all three games of the series, helping the Royals complete their sixth series sweep.

“He’s not a star; he’s a superstar,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “He’s worth the price of admission. He’s just a special kid.”

Kansas City tied the score with one out in the seventh. Maikel Garcia reached on an infield hit against reliever Justin Anderson and scored on Kyle Isbel’s squeeze bunt.

Chicago’s bullpen leads the majors with 24 blown saves and 33 losses.

“We gave up a lot of runs in the seventh inning,” Grifol said. “Brebbia wasn’t as sharp today, but he was still sharp. He just let some pitches get across the plate and those guys are good there.”

Drew Thorpe allowed three hits in six shutout innings, walked two and struck out five in his fifth consecutive start of at least six innings in which he allowed fewer than three runs.

“We didn’t get him at all,” Quatraro said. “He was outstanding. Guys were saying they’ve never seen a changeup like that. The cutter and changeup, we didn’t seem to have an answer for that.”

Pham had two hits for the White Sox, who lost their seventh straight game and suffered their 14th series sweep.

White Sox right-handed pitcher Erick Fedde (7-3, 2.99 ERA) will face Rangers right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen (5-5, 3.52) on Monday in Texas.

Royals left-handed pitcher Cole Ragans (6-6, 3.16 ERA) faces Diamondbacks right-handed pitcher Yilber Díaz (1-0, 1.50) on Monday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb