LOS ANGELES — MJ Melendez hit a grand slam to conclude a 12-pitch at-bat, Seth Lugo became the first pitcher with 10 wins in the AL and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-2 Saturday.
Starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto had to leave after two innings due to triceps strain.
Kansas City loaded the bases with three straight walks by Blake Treinen. Melendez fouled on six straight pitches with a 2-2 count, but worked the full count when Treiner threw a cutter.
Treinen was the cutter on the next pitch, but he was a little high inside the strike zone and Melendez fired over the wall in right field for the first grand slam of his career, putting the Royals up 5-2. . Kansas City had lost five of six coming into this matchup.
Lugo (10-2) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. The right-hander — who also leads the AL in innings (97 1/3) and is fifth in ERA (2.40) — struck out four and walked one to join Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez as the only pitchers with 10 wins.
For the Royals, Venezuelans Maikel García 4-0 with one scored, Freddy Fermín 2-1 with one scored. Puerto Rican Nelson Velázquez was 0-2 with one run scored and one RBI. Cuban Dairon Blanco 4-0.
For the Dodgers, Dominican Teoscar Hernández is 4-2. Cuban Andy Pagés 4-1 with one scored.
