All eyes were on Shohei Ohtani, he was the opener for the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon against the Royals. But the story of the day was Seth Lugo and the Royals offense, as the Royals downed the Dodgers 9-5 to even the series and snap a 6-game losing streak and an 11-game home losing streak. It was their first win at home in the month of June.
Shohei Ohtani struck out to start the game, and Lugo would get another one to end the inning with two on, fanning Teoscar Hernandez. Ohtani would give up a one out single to Bobby Witt Jr., (Jr.’s first career hit against Ohtani), Maikel Garcia would walk, but Ohtani would throw the hardest pitch of his MLB career at 102 mph to induce a 4-6-3 inning ending double play from Vinnie Pasquantino.
After 2 scoreless innings from Ohtani, Ben Casparius would come out for the bottom of the third. Jonathan India would hit a 2 out single, Witt would bloop a double down the right field line before Garcia would launch a long 2 run double off the left center field wall.
Seth Lugo would continue to carve up the Dodgers into the bottom of the 5th inning. Kyle Isbel would line a one out single into the left center gap and advance to second on a fielding error by Andy Pages. India would lace a single to right to drive Isbel in, Witt would hit another single to put two runners on, and Pasquantino would blast a long, 2-out, 3-run dinger into the Fountain Deck in right center field. Royals 6. Dodgers 0.
Lugo would get two outs in the top of the 6th, before departing after two batters reached. Daniel Lynch IV would come in and strike out Dalton Rushing, leaving Ohtani in the on-deck circle. Lugo would finish the day with 5 2⁄3 innings pitched, 4 hits, 5 walks and 8 strikeouts. It was the third consecutive brilliant start from Lugo.
Lynch would surrender a solo homer to Freddie Freeman, but looked good in an 1 1⁄3 of work, including striking out Ohtani looking. Vinnie Pasquantino would tack on two more RBIs in the bottom of the 7th, on a double scoring India and Witt. Perez would double in Vinnie to put the Royals up 9-1. The double for Salvy tied him with Alex Gordon for 6th all time in hits as a Royal.
John Schreiber looked great in the 8th, striking out two. Sam Long pitched…. not so good in the 9th, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and walking one in just the inning of work. The Dodgers sent 9 to the plate and had the tying run on deck when Michael Conforto grounded out to third to end the game. India and Witt each had 4 hit games on the day for the Royals.
The rubber match for the series will be tomorrow starting at 1:10 p.m. central time. Kris Bubic will get the start for Kansas City. The Dodgers haven’t announced a starter yet. The Royals are 39-44 now on the season.
