Jazz Chisholm Jr. Hints At Yankees' Secret For Success Against Royals' Seth Lugo
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Kansas City Royals All-Star pitcher Seth Lugo isn't off to a terrible start this season, but it's still a far cry from his incredible 2024 campaign.
After allowing four earned runs to the New York Yankees over 6 2/3 innings on Monday, Lugo sits at 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA early in the year. Hitters are batting 24 points better against him this year than last year, but hits won't kill you as long as you keep them in the ballpark.
On Monday night, nothing stayed in the yard. Lugo allowed four solo home runs, all to left-handed batters, in a 4-1 Yankees win. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, and Austin Wells all took Lugo to the seats in right field.
Bad starts can happen to anyone, and Yankee Stadium is a tough place to avoid the home run ball. But to hear Chisholm tell it, the Yankees also had a bit of a read on Lugo that he'd better make sure doesn't become a cheat code.
After the game, Chisholm told reporters that the Yankees were heading to the plate against Lugo with the goal of ambushing him, getting strikes to hit early in the count and trying to do damage with them.
“We all know that he’s very aggressive in the zone; he doesn’t like to walk people,” Chisholm said, per Bill Ladson of MLB.com. “If you watch his last couple of games, he’s really been in the strike zone a lot, and in the strike zone early. I think we went up there with a plan of attack [to] get your pitch early. He throws eight or nine pitches, but get your pitch early and attack it.”
Chisholm's homer came on the second pitch of his at-bat, while Rice and Wells both took Lugo deep on the very first pitch. Only Grisham worked the count, hitting his fourth long ball of the year on a 3-2 pitch to give the Yankees the lead.
It's still very early, but Lugo may run into the Yankees again in the playoffs this season. If he does, he has to find a better game plan to keep them in the park, especially considering none of the damage came from superstar Aaron Judge.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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