KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Tommy Pham hit his first home run for Kansas City, a crucial three-run drive in the four-run fourth inning, and the Royals ended a season-high seven straight losses with a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night.

Seth Lugo (15-8) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings. He is one win behind Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale, who are tied for the major league lead. Lugo has an 11-1 record and a 1.40 ERA in 15 starts with four days of rest.

Kansas City (76-65) came within one percentage point of Minnesota (75-64) to secure the second AL wild card spot. The Royals and Twins are both 4 1/2 games behind AL Central leader Cleveland (80-60).

Royals manager Matt Quatraro returned after missing two games due to the death of his mother.

“I’m really happy for the guys,” Quatraro said. “Nobody wants to lose and when you go through a whole week of games and you don’t win any of them, it wears on you, mentally and physically. It makes it harder to believe in yourself, so however it had to happen … it’s good to get a win.”

During the seven-game losing streak, the Royals had scored three or fewer runs in six consecutive games, the team’s longest such streak since Aug. 15-21, 2022. The Royals had scored two or fewer runs in five consecutive games, their longest stretch since June 7-13, 2018.

Pham, who was claimed off waivers by St. Louis on Saturday, broke a 1-1 tie with his home run against Ben Lively (11-9), who allowed seven hits in four innings. The smash deep into the left-field seats was Pham’s eighth home run of the season and gave him his first RBI with the Royals.

“It seems like we’ve had some opportunities and just haven’t been able to hit the big one until tonight,” Pham said. “It felt really good because I’ve been struggling to hit balls to the pull side and today I worked on that and it’s even nicer to see that translate into the game.”

Quatraro said it was a relief that someone had gotten through.

“Somebody has to let the pressure off, and he did,” Quatraro said. “It was nice to get the equalizer … but you try to play a big inning. It took until the second out, but that was a big, big blow for Tommy.”

Paul DeJong reached first base with an infield single, Robbie Grossman singled for his first hit for the Royals since being signed from Texas on Saturday, and Michael Massey tied the game with a single.

Lugo got help from DeJong when the third baseman caught a sharp grounder from Daniel Schneeman in the hole in the fifth inning. Lugo also benefited from three double plays, one of which the pitcher started

“It looked like he had a really good curveball. He was getting to the lefties with the cutter and as they were watching, he was softening the ball,” Quatraro said. “A pretty good night with soft contact, I would say, the double plays, everything was just going.”

Lugo has had one loss and no playoff appearances since beating the Los Angeles Angels on August 19.

“I think I threw the ball well,” Lugo said. “I think I used both sides of the plate with my fastball and my breaking balls and kept hitters off balance. I used a pretty good mix tonight.”

José Ramírez gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a two-out bloop single.

Kris Bubic struck out the team in the eighth inning and Lucas Erceg made his ninth save and sixth with the Royals with a 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.

TRAINING ROOM

Guardians: 1B Josh Naylor did not play after leaving Tuesday’s game with back spasms.

Royals: OF Hunter Renfroe (hamstring) was 0 for 4 with a sacrifice fly as he began a rehab assignment at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He has been on the 10-day IL since Aug. 25.

Squad changes

Royals INF CJ Alexander was claimed off waivers by Oakland. He was designated for assignment on Saturday.

Next

Guardians: LHP Matthew Boyd (1-1, 2.38) starts Friday in the series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Royals: LHP Cole Ragans (10-9, 3.46) starts the series opener on Friday against Minnesota and RHP Zebby Matthews (1-2, 7.41).

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb