Seth Lugo secured a quality start and his 14th win of the year, allowing the Kansas City Royals to prevail 5-3 over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Lugo allowed just two runs in his seven innings of work, off four hits and three walks, while striking out eight. Those two runs came off a two-out double in the seventh by Jo Adell, after the Royals had scored one in the third and two in the fifth. Salvador Perez, who had the RBI single in the third, restored the Royals’ margin by way of his own two-run RBI double, scoring Bobby Witt Jr and Vinnie Pasquantino with no outs in the bottom half of the seventh. Paul DeJong of the Royals and Zach Neto of the Angels each had home runs. John Schreiber recorded his second save of the year, allowing one hit in the ninth.

It’s the fifth straight win for the Royals, who claimed their 70th win of the season to go 15 games over .500. With Minnesota’s loss to San Diego, the Royals are now tied with the Twins for second in the AL Central and for the second wild card spot, four-and-a-half games ahead of Boston. The Royals’ series with the Angels continue Tuesday evening at The K, with pregame on KMMO-FM 102.9 at 6:30 and first pitch at 7:10.

The St Louis Cardinals were idle last night. They’ll start a three-game series Tuesday evening at Busch Stadium against Milwaukee, who have a commanding 11-game lead in the NL Central. The Cards are a half-game ahead of the Cubs and Reds for second in the division, standing five games behind Atlanta for the third wild card spot. Their 61-63 mark has them also behind the Mets and Giants in the wild card chase.