Amid all the health issues within Kansas City’s rotation, Seth Lugo continues to grind.

Looking for another strong home start, the veteran right-hander also tries to continue his recent starting dominance over San Francisco as the Royals aim for a three-game sweep of the Giants on Wednesday.

Lugo (3-6, 4.39 ERA) could be headed toward a first losing record in his five seasons serving primarily as a starter. However, the 36-year-old is scheduled to make his team-leading 21st start, and seven of his 11 quality starts have come through 11 home appearances.

That makes him a potentially enticing trade option. However, the Royals’ front office noted it won’t actively shop Lugo or fellow veteran hurler Michael Wacha, but will listen to offers presented as Kansas City sits last in the American League Central.

“I think the general thought is it’s going to have to be very enticing for us, because (Lugo and Wacha), we’re going to count on,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said.

Five of Lugo’s quality starts have come while going 2-2 with a 2.94 ERA in his last six outings at home. The only non-quality start during that stretch came June 10, when he left in the fourth against Texas after taking a line drive to the forehead.

On Friday, Lugo allowed two runs (one earned) over six innings of Kansas City’s 7-6, 10-inning home victory over San Diego.

Since returning to a full-time starter role in 2023, Lugo is 2-1 with a 1.01 ERA in four starts against the Giants. The most recent outing came in 2024 at Kansas City, where he yielded two runs over seven innings.

Following back-to-back one-run victories, with quality starts from Wacha and Luinder Avila, the Royals are 4-1 on a post-All-Star break six-game homestand.

“We got an opportunity for a sweep,” Vinnie Pasquantino, who had two hits with an RBI during the 3-2 win Tuesday, told Royals.TV.

“Gotta try to take it the best we can.”

San Francisco, meanwhile, has totaled 11 runs, 23 hits and gone 4-of-25 with runners in scoring position while losing four straight on a six-game trip.

“You got to control what you can control,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said.

Among the major league leaders in batting average at .323, the Giants’ Luis Arraez is likely to rejoin the lineup after being rested Tuesday. He’s 1-for-5 all-time versus Lugo.

Teammate Rafael Devers is 4-for-8 with two homers against Lugo.

Scheduled San Francisco starter Landen Roupp (7-8, 3.98) has recorded four quality starts in his last five, and allowed one run and five hits over 15 innings while going 2-0 in July.

On Friday, the right-hander gave up two of those hits through seven innings during the Giants’ 7-0 victory at Seattle. Roupp’s only previous start against the Royals came in 2024, when he allowed three hits and three walks over five innings of San Francisco’s 9-0 win at Kansas City.

While Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. could miss a second straight game with back tightness, teammate Jac Caglianone might also sit after he exited Tuesday’s contest with a sore right shoulder.

“Just landed hard,” Caglianone told reporters, “but I should be good.”

Salvador Perez, 0-for-2 versus Roupp, remains one shy of tying George Brett’s franchise-record 317 homers. He was hit on the wrist with a pitch Tuesday but stayed in the game.

–Field Level Media

A lost season thus far for the New York Mets has at least unearthed possible future rotation mainstays Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton.

Scott will look to follow in the footsteps of his fellow youngsters on Wednesday afternoon, when he takes the mound for the visiting Mets in the rubber game of a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Scott (3-1, 2.87 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Logan Henderson (3-1, 2.97).

Thornton earned his first major league win Tuesday night, when he allowed three hits over six innings as the Mets earned a 4-0 victory over the Brewers.

Thornton, McLean and Scott have been rare bright spots for the Mets, who are in last place in the Nationals League East and 9 1/2 games out of the final NL playoff spot.

Thornton has thrown 18 straight scoreless innings dating to June 26 and has a 1.93 ERA in his first four starts. McLean, the only pitcher among the trio to open the season with the Mets, has allowed more than two earned runs just once in his last nine starts.

Scott, who returned this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2024, has thrown 10 2/3 scoreless innings over his last two outings and has yet to surrender more than four earned runs in any of his 22 big league starts.

Overall this season, the three pitchers are a combined 11-8 with a 3.03 ERA in 37 starts.

“I’ve always wanted to help this team win ballgames,” Thornton said. “It’s always been my number one thing as a baseball player, not my personal accolades or anything like that.”

The Brewers entered Tuesday with the best record in baseball but slipped a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in that category following a rare shutout defeat. Milwaukee was blanked for just the fourth time this season and the first time since suffering a 1-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants on June 3.

The Brewers were limited to four hits by Thornton and a trio of relievers Tuesday, though they also had 12 flyouts — including seven against Thornton, whose shutout was preserved when A.J. Ewing ended the sixth by turning around on the left-field warning track and catching Brice Turang’s fly ball to rob the second baseman of a two-run, extra-base hit.

“We did have some balls hit hard, but they don’t count,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “You’ve got to hit them on a line and you’ve got to hit them where they’re not standing.”

Scott earned the win in his most recent start last Thursday, when he tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings as the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1.

Henderson didn’t factor into the decision on Friday after allowing one run over five innings in the Brewers’ 2-1, 10-inning victory over the Miami Marlins.

Scott has never faced the Brewers, and Henderson has never opposed the Mets.

–Field Level Media

The good vibes started for Eugenio Suarez the minute he walked back into T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

The Cincinnati Reds’ veteran infielder received a standing ovation when he was introduced before his first at-bat Monday and shared a hug with Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh at the plate.

Those good vibes continued for Suarez on Tuesday night as he hit a solo homer off old friend Luis Castillo in the fourth inning to help lead the Reds to a 4-2 victory.

The rubber match in the three-game interleague series will be Wednesday afternoon.

This week is Suarez’s first trip back to the ballpark in which he hit a deciding grand slam for the Mariners in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series last fall against Toronto. The Blue Jays went on to win the series in seven games, however, preventing Seattle from making its first trip to the World Series.

Suarez signed with Cincinnati as a free agent in the offseason but always will be remembered fondly for his two stints in Seattle and his signature catchphrase, “good vibes only.”

The Mariners put together a video montage of his playoff heroics that they showed on the scoreboard Monday.

“Seattle’s been nice to me. It’s got part of my heart here,” Suarez said. “I had a lot of good moments here … especially last year.”

The homer on Tuesday came with Suarez leading off the fourth inning. Castillo tried to sneak a first-pitch fastball past Suarez, but he hit it 405 feet to center field.

“I think I’m going to hear it for the rest of our lives,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “We have a really good relationship, so I don’t think I’m ever going to forget that one.”

Elly De La Cruz and Nathaniel Lowe added solo homers, and Chase Burns pitched five scoreless innings for the Reds. Seattle’s Weston Wilson and Julio Rodriguez also went deep.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson spent a few minutes chatting with Suarez before Monday’s opener.

“What he’s done on the field is remarkable, but what he’s done off the field and just what he brought to our clubhouse and what he brings to this game … he’s one of the good people in this game, and you know it goes beyond being a good teammate,” Wilson said. “He’s got the ability to show up and be the same person every day. I think that’s a superpower in this game.”

With the Mariners looking for a right-handed power bat before the trade deadline next month, could a third Seattle stint for the 35-year-old Suarez be possible?

“I’ve been in this situation a couple of times already, and I try not to think too much about it,” Suarez said of trade rumors. “I just do my best on the field, try to help my team win games.”

Suarez is batting .208 this season, with 13 homers and 37 RBIs.

The series finale will feature a pair of right-handers who were former first-round draft picks in the Reds’ Brady Singer (4-9, 4.56 ERA) and the Mariners’ Emerson Hancock (6-4, 3.17).

Singer won his last start Friday 7-2 at Colorado when he allowed two runs on four hits over seven innings with no walks and six strikeouts. He’s 1-2 with a 3.93 ERA in seven career appearances against Seattle, including six starts.

Hancock didn’t get a decision in his last start July 12 at Tampa Bay when he pitched just 1 2/3 innings in Seattle’s 8-2 victory after taking a comebacker off his pitching hand. That followed a 4-0 victory July 5 against visiting Toronto in which he allowed just two hits over seven scoreless innings.

Hancock is 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA in one previous start vs. Cincinnati.

–Field Level Media