D-backs, Royals look to prolong stout starting pitching

Both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Kansas City Royals enjoyed stout starting pitching upon returning from the All-Star break.

They will look for more of the same on Monday when the Royals host the Diamondbacks to open a three-game interleague series.

Kansas City is coming off a dominant home sweep of the last-place Chicago White Sox. The Royals outscored their lowly American League Central foe 17-3 over the three games, as Kansas City's starters allowed just one run over 23 innings.

The Royals cemented the sweep with a 4-1 win on Sunday, using a complete game from All-Star right-hander Seth Lugo, who surrendered just three hits.

"What do you say about that," Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. "The efficiency, the strike-throwing, all of it was phenomenal. I'm just really happy that he got not only the complete game, but the win. ... He definitely deserved to win that game."

Lugo's strong outing came after Brady Singer followed Michael Wacha's seven scoreless innings on Friday with seven shutout frames of his own on Saturday.

Offensively, the Royals enter play Monday a confident group, spearheaded by star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.

Fresh off his first All-Star Game appearance, Witt tore through Chicago's pitching, finishing the weekend 9-for-11 to boost his batting average to a team-best .337.

"I'm just enjoying it up there," Witt said. "Just trying to see the ball and hit the ball. Really not trying to do too much, just keeping it simple."

Witt, who scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Sunday, is batting .404 at home this season.

Kansas City will go for a fourth consecutive win on Monday when it sends 26-year-old left-hander Cole Ragans (6-6, 3.16 ERA) to the mound.

Ragans, another first-time All-Star, has gone seven innings in each of his last two starts, allowing three total runs on nine hits. He limited the Boston Red Sox to a run on four hits in Kansas City's 6-1 road win on July 12.

Monday will mark his first career appearance against Arizona, who mirrored the Royals' pitching excellence over the weekend.

The Diamondbacks' starters combined to allow one run over 17 2/3 innings pitched as Arizona took two of three from the Cubs in Chicago.

The visitors were two outs away from taking a three-game sweep on Sunday, but reliever Justin Martinez gave up a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. The Diamondbacks eventually fell 2-1 in 10 innings.

Starter Brandon Pfaadt pitched seven scoreless innings on Sunday, allowing just one hit, but was pulled with Arizona leading 1-0 before the eighth inning by manager Torey Lovullo.

"You can play it out a thousand ways," Lovullo said. "But we won two games in a very tough environment against a very good team, a well-run team. I'll take that."

Winners in six of their last eight, the Diamondbacks will start rookie pitcher Yilber Diaz (1-0, 1.50 ERA) on Monday against Kansas City.

The 23-year-old right-hander is making just his third career start. In both of his outings as a big leaguer (July 8 vs. the Atlanta Braves and July 13 vs. the Toronto Blue Jays), Diaz has gone six innings, allowing one run on four hits.

--Field Level Media