Good Lugo's Return

It's been a bit bumpy lately for the Royals one-time Cy Young candidate, but he came back in a big way last night.

Lucas Erceg has changed the Royals bullpen for the better. He wasn’t going to be used last night. Sam Long has been a revelation. He wasn’t going to be used last night. John Schreiber was activated from the IL, and he’s been in Matt Quatraro’s circle of trust through thick and a lot of thin, so it was him, Kris Bubic and maybe James McArthur as the relievers who would be counted on to close out a game if the game required closing out. That meant that Seth Lugo needed to pitch a lot more like the guy we saw through the first few months and not the one who had given up five or more runs in three of his last five starts.

He delivered. It wasn’t always as smooth as some of his better starts of the year, but in the end, his line was hard to argue with: