Kansas City pitcher Seth Lugo exited Wednesday night’s home contest in the fourth inning after taking a line drive to the forehead off the bat of the Texas Rangers’ Brandon Nimmo.
With one out in the fourth, Nimmo rifled a 106.6-m.p.h. liner at Lugo and knocked him to the ground. The right-hander got up without assistance, but with a noticeable lump on his forehead.
Nimmo, who reached base safely, called time out and ran to the mound to check on Lugo, his former teammate with the New York Mets. After speaking with the Royals’ training staff, Lugo walked to the dugout under his own power.
Right-hander Mason Black replaced Lugo with Kansas City leading 1-0. Nimmo scored the Rangers’ first run on a bases-loaded walk to Evan Carter, then they held a 2-1 lead after their half of the stanza.
Lugo allowed one run on three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.
The 36-year-old entered the day at 2-4 with a 3.91 ERA, 24 walks and 64 strikeouts in 76 innings over 13 starts this season.
For his career, Lugo is 66-51 with 16 saves, a 3.52 ERA, 300 walks and 1,018 strikeouts in 1,069 innings over 373 regular-season games (136 starts) with the Mets (2016-22), San Diego Padres (2023) and Royals. Lugo was an All-Star and second in the 2024 Cy Young Award voting during his first season with the Royals.
