Snell strikes out 9 as the Giants beat the Royals 2-0 to complete a 3-game series sweep

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Blake Snell struck out nine in six strong innings and the San Francisco Giants completed a three-game series sweep with a 2-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Kansas City (82-72) moved into the second AL wild-card ahead of Detroit (82-74) because it holds the tiebreaker, winning the season series against the Tigers 7-6. Minnesota is a half-game back of Kansas City and the Tigers, pending the outcome of its second game of a doubleheader against Boston.

The Royals were shut out for the second straight game and lost their seventh straight, dropping all six games of their homestand.

“It couldn’t have been a worse homestand,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s really disappointing.”

Snell (5-3) allowed two singles and a walk and didn’t allow a runner past first base. In his last 14 starts, he is 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 114 strikeouts.

Working with an effective curveball, Snell held Royals’ batters to 1 for 13 when throwing a first-pitch strike. Opponents are hitting .121 this season when the 31-year-old left-hander gets ahead in the count.

“I was going to throw change-ups, but they were so on it,” Snell said. “So, I adjusted. (The curveball) was just there more today.”

With one out in the second, Grant McCray lined an RBI triple to right-center and scored on Brett Wisely’s two-out hit. McCray snapped an 0-for-13 skid with his first extra-base hit since Sept. 7.

“That was a huge hit for us because (Seth) Lugo looked like he was on his game,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said.

Lugo (16-9) retired the next 16 batters and finished with five strikeouts and two runs allowed through seven innings.

“His command was impeccable today,” Quatraro said. “His stuff was really good.”

With two out and runners at second and third, the Giants intentionally walked Bobby Witt Jr. to load the bases. Tyler Rogers induced a pop fly from Salvador Perez to end the threat.

“Witt’s numbers against righties are off the charts,” Melvin said. “But it’s still not an easy thing to do because Salvy’s really good.”

Ryan Walker struck out one in the ninth, earning his ninth save.

San Francisco completed its first series sweep of Kansas City and its first series sweep against an American League opponent since April 15-17, 2022, at Cleveland.

“It’s nice to get a sweep against a good team,” Melvin said. “We’re playing pretty good right now.”

The Royals have scored four runs in their last five games and have held a lead in just one of their last 50 innings.

“We’ve got to put ourselves in more opportunities,” Quatraro said. “There’s plenty of ways to score runs.”

Kansas City lost by shutout in consecutive games for the second time this season and the first time since June 22-23 at Texas.

“Every time we lose it’s hard,” Perez said. “We still have one more week. What happened at home, we’ll forget about that and try to win the next two series.”

UP NEXT

Giants: RHP Hayden Birdsong (4-5, 4.74 ERA) opposes Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (3-3, 5.09) in Arizona on Monday.

Royals: LHP Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.24) opposes Nationals LHP Mitchell Parker (7-10, 4.44) in Washington on Tuesday.

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