The Kansas City Royals already made a big improvement from last season and will get another measure of their progress with their next few wins.
After receiving a brilliant performance from Seth Lugo, the Royals have their first chance to clinch at least a .500 season Wednesday night when they visit the New York Yankees.
The Royals (80-66) are two wins away from clinching their first winning season since going 95-67 and capturing their second World Series title in 2015. Since then, the Royals have not won more than 81 games and have lost more than 100 three times, including last season, when they went 56-106 in manager Matt Quatraro's debut season.
Kansas City allowed the final seven runs of a 10-4 loss to New York on Monday but impressively evened the series with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday. Lugo struck out 10 in seven innings and combined with two relievers on a three-hitter to give the Royals a fifth win in six games.
The result allowed Kansas City, which holds the second American League wild-card position, to stay within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
"I know (the Yankees) got a lot of guys that can really swing the bat, but I think it really comes down to the game (Monday)," Lugo said. "Tough loss and really wanted to even the series right there. So I think it was important."
Salvador Perez followed up a 4-for-4 showing on Monday by driving in two runs on Tuesday to reach 100 RBIs for the second time in his career. The Royals finished with 11 hits, reaching double digits in hits for the third time in six games.
The Yankees (83-62) fielded what many believe is their best lineup with Jasson Dominguez hitting seventh and playing left field, but they tied a season low with three hits and were shut out for the eighth time this season.
New York matched a season high by striking out 14 times, did not draw a walk for the third time this season and fell to 6-8 since Aaron Judge hit his 50th and 51st homers.
Gleyber Torres had two of New York's hits and is batting .378 (17-for-45) during an 11-game hitting streak. However, Judge went 0-for-4, and he is in a 10-for-51 (.196) slump since hitting his last homer on Aug. 25 against the Colorado Rockies.
New York also saw its lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East trimmed to a half-game.
"We aren't paying attention to that," New York right fielder Juan Soto said. "We really focus on what we can do here. We're trying to win games, and that's all that matters."
Yankees right-hander Luis Gil (13-6, 3.24 ERA) will make his second start since returning from a brief absence caused by a back strain. He hopes this outing goes as well as his Friday start in Chicago, where he allowed one hit in six innings of a 3-0 win over the Cubs.
Gil, who is 4-2 with a 2.85 ERA in his past eight starts, will be facing the Royals for the first time.
Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.33 ERA), who is coming off his fifth scoreless outing of the season, goes for the Royals. The left-hander did not allow a run for the first time since May 22 as he struck out seven and allowed four hits over six innings in a 5-0 home win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
His only previous experience against New York was a scoreless one-inning relief outing for the Texas Rangers on April 30, 2023.
