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

The Yankees lineup could not get to Seth Lugo as they mustered just three hits in their 5-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

Here are the takeaways…

– Marcus Stroman bent but didn’t break on Tuesday. The Royals had runners on base for most of the game — some due in part to shoddy defense behind Stroman — but the veteran right-hander would wiggle his way out of some jams early on. However, Kansas City would get on the board with two runs thanks to a Bobby Witt Jr. RBI single and Salvador Perez RBI double.

Perez would get to Stroman again in the fifth, hitting an RBI single up the middle to put the Royals up 3-0.

Stroman would pitch into the sixth but left with runners on that Mark Leiter Jr. would escape without allowing another run.

Stroman allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four batters across 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 then the right-hander retired the next 17 Yankees in a row. Torres picked up 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 11-game hitting streak.

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

– Once Lugo was out of the game, the Yankees lineup still had trouble getting any runners on base. New York did not reach base in the eighth or ninth innings and struck out a combined four times to Royals relievers.

The Yankees struck out 14 times in Tuesday’s loss.

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. Jasson Dominguez, starting for the second straight game finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

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

Game MVP: Seth Lugo

Couldn’t be 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 walks while striking out 10 batters.

What’s next

The Yankees and Royals complete their three-game set on Wednesday night in The Bronx.

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