It’s been an inconsistent start to the season for the Kansas City Royals, but Seth Lugo has not had a problem with his own consistency.

He’s certainly been good against the Cleveland Guardians at home.

Among the major league leaders with five quality starts, the 36-year-old right-hander will try to help the Royals take their four-game series from the visiting Guardians on Thursday.

Lugo (1-1, 2.68 ERA) has allowed more than two runs just once in his seven 2026 outings and has completed at least five innings in every appearance. On Saturday at Seattle, he gave up eight hits and two walks but just two runs over six innings of the Royals’ 3-2, 10-inning victory.

“I think that was one of my better located-pitch days of the year,” Lugo said. “I battled.”

Though Lugo allowed a season-high seven runs and a career-high 14 hits over 6 1/3 innings of his most recent home outing against the Los Angeles Angels on April 26, he is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA in three career starts against the Guardians at Kansas City.

The Royals totaled 11 runs while winning the first two games of this series, but they managed only four hits during a 3-1 loss to Cleveland on Wednesday. Kansas City had won a season-high five in a row and 10 of 13 — following an eight-game losing streak — entering the latest contest.

The Guardians, meanwhile, snapped a three-game losing streak with just their fourth victory in the past 11 games.

“All of our games are hard-fought, but it’s worth it,” Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges told CLEGuardians.TV. “We got to find a way to split this series. … We’re gonna try to find a way to get a win (Thursday).”

Rookie Chase DeLauter has been a pleasant surprise for the Guardians, who have consistently hovered around the .500 mark during the first month-plus of the season. With two hits on Wednesday, highlighted by a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning, DeLauter is batting .514 (18-for-35) with seven RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak.

Scheduled Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi (1-4, 6.56 ERA) continues to struggle while trying to find a rhythm in 2026. The right-hander allowed five runs and 10 hits, including two homers, over 5 1/3 innings, but picked up the win as the Guardians beat the Athletics 14-6 on Saturday.

It was the third straight start in which Cecconi yielded at least four runs. He gave one hit over eight scoreless innings during his only previous start vs. Kansas City, a 10-2 Cleveland home victory last September.

Cecconi has never faced Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr., who went 0-for-4 on Wednesday, just the second time he was held hitless in the past 17 games.

Fellow All-Star teammate Maikel Garcia had two hits on Wednesday but appeared to hurt his leg while sliding. Garcia, who got back on track after going hitless in the first two games of the series, likely will be available for the series finale, according to Royals manager Matt Quatraro.

Cleveland star Steven Kwan is 0-for-12 in his past three games and is batting .211 on the season. After getting the night off on Wednesday, he is slated to be back in the lineup to face Lugo, against whom Kwan is 3-for-10 with a home run.

–Field Level Media

Brent Rooker and Zack Gelof each homered and drove in three runs and J.T. Ginn tossed eight stellar innings on Thursday night as the visiting Athletics posted a 12-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ginn (1-1) allowed just one run on four hits, striking out eight and walking one for the A’s, who salvaged the series finale after dropping the first two games. Shea Langeliers and Jacob Wilson also went deep in the win.

Andrew Painter (1-4) surrendered eight runs on seven hits across 3 2/3 frames, walking three and striking out a pair for the Phillies, whose four-game winning streak ended. Kyle Schwarber went 2-for-4 with a homer for Philadelphia, which has won eight of 10 games since the firing of manager Rob Thomson.

After Nick Kurtz began the game with a walk, Langeliers belted his 11th homer of the season to give the Athletics an early 2-0 lead. Painter then walked Tyler Soderstrom before Rooker’s fourth home run of the year put the visitors ahead by four runs before an out was recorded.

Soderstrom began the third with a walk, advanced on a flyout and scored on Carlos Cortes’ single. Wilson followed with a two-run blast, pushing the lead to 7-0.

Following Langeliers’ two-out single in the fourth, Tanner Banks replaced Painter. From there, Soderstrom’s single and Rooker’s RBI single gave the A’s an 8-0 edge.

Philadelphia cracked the scoring column in the bottom of the fourth. Schwarber belted a solo homer, his 12th long ball of the year, pulling the Phillies within seven.

Lawrence Butler’s one-out walk in the fifth was followed by Gelof’s run-scoring triple to extend the Athletics’ lead to 9-1. Two batters later, Kurtz delivered an RBI single.

Against Philadelphia reliever Chase Shugart in the seventh, Gelof connected on his third home run of the season, a two-run shot.

–Field Level Media

Joe Mack doubled with two outs and scored the winning run on a walk-off throwing error as the Miami Marlins claimed a 4-3 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night, dodging a series sweep.

Mack’s hit brought Javier Sanoja to the plate, and his grounder was fielded by third baseman Coby Mayo but bounced in front of first base and ricocheted off Pete Alonso’s glove to allow Mack to score. It was the only error of the game.

Liam Hicks hit a two-run home run in the first inning for the Marlins, his ninth of the season which more than doubles any of his teammates.

Calvin Faucher (3-2), the fourth Miami reliever of the game, allowed one hit and struck out one in a scoreless ninth inning.

Mayo and Dylan Beavers each provided two hits for Baltimore, but the Orioles had a two-game win streak halted and have lost six of their last eight games. Andrew Kittredge (0-1) struck out one and allowed one unearned run in two-thirds of an inning.

Miami starter Max Meyer worked five innings, holding the Orioles to two runs on six hits and two walks. He recorded five strikeouts. Andrew Nardi and Michael Petersen both worked a shutout inning before Josh Ekness yielded the tying run in the eighth.

Orioles starter Cade Povich was done after three innings, exiting with left forearm discomfort. He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks.

Gunnar Henderson’s single in the third inning put the Orioles on the board with a single run, but they left the bases loaded.

Miami had three hits through seven innings, two of them singles in the third. Connor Norby extended the lead for the Marlins with an RBI single which scored Sanoja after his leadoff walk.

Tyler O’Neill’s run-scoring single in the fourth pulled the Orioles to within 3-2. Baltimore tied the score on Pete Alonso’s single before an out was recorded in the eighth. However, they again squandered a chance for a big inning and finished the game 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The Marlins put their first two batters in the bottom of the eighth on base but Orioles left-hander Keegan Akin worked out of the jam.

–Field Level Media