Seth Lugo threw seven shutout innings and Vinnie Pasquantino homered and doubled to lead the visiting Kansas City Royals to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
Lugo (3-0) scattered four singles, walked one and struck out four while lowering his ERA to 1.05. He threw 99 pitches, 64 for strikes. James McArthur, who hit Gavin Sheets in the foot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, bounced back to strike out pinch hitter Eloy Jimenez to end the game and garner his third save in four tries.
Kyle Isbel added an RBI single for Kansas City, which improved to 5-0 against the White Sox this season. The loss was the 14th in 16 games for Chicago, the worst start in the franchise’s 124-year history.
Andrew Benintendi had two hits while Nick Nastrini (0-1) suffered the loss in his major league debut. Nastrini, obtained at the trade deadline last July from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that sent Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to L.A., started the game with 3 2/3 perfect innings and allowed two runs on three hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out five, but the White Sox were shut out for the sixth time in 16 games.
Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Pasquantino drove a 2-1 fastball 421-feet into the rightfield bleachers, breaking up Nastrini’s perfect game. It was the third home run of the season for Pasquantino.
The Royals extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Nick Loftin singled with one out, advanced to second on a walk to Adam Frazier and then scored on a ground single to left by Isbel with two outs. Maikel Garcia followed with a walk to load the bases but Nastrini got Bobby Witt Jr. to fly out to the wall in center to narrowly end the threat.
