A pair of RBI hits were enough for the Kansas City Royals as they shut out the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night 3-0 at Kauffman Stadium.

Kyle Isbel put the Royals in the board in the second with a two-RBI double, while MJ Melendez added a solo home run in the seventh. All three hits were charged to former Royal Johnny Cueto, who allowed eight hits and two walks while striking out one in 6.1 innings. Michael Lorenzen had seven innings of shutout ball, allowing four hits and two walks while recording five strikeouts to bring his record to 7-6. Lucas Erceg claimed a pair of punchouts to earn his sixth save of the year.

The Royals (71-56) kept pace with Minnesota, remaining tied for second in the AL Central as well as for the second wild card spot, 2.5 games behind Cleveland in the division while 3.5 games ahead of Boston in the wild card race.

Kansas City will need to make the most of Thursday’s day off, as their next one won’t come for another 14 games, and all of those games are against division leading teams. The NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies are next up for the Royals on Friday night, with first pitch at 7:10 p.m. We’ll have pregame from 6:30 p.m. on KMMO-FM 102.9.