Jason Vargas continues to dominate, leads Royals to a 2-0 win

Jason Vargas made a major announcement tonight by out-dueling Madison Bumgarner and powering the Royals to a 2-0 win.

Vargas held the Giants scoreless through his seven innings of work, striking out nine in the process. Through his first 20.2 innings this season, Vargas has given up just one earned run and struck out 23 batters.

He has also registered at least six innings of work in each of his first three starts.

Meanwhile, Madison Bumgarner took the mound at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since closing game seven of the 2014 World Series.

He did not disappoint, giving up just one run in six innings of work, with that one run coming via a Mike Moustakas infield single.

The Royals offense contended to struggle, scoring fewer than four runs in seven of their last eight games, including tonight.

However, as the pattern continued, Kansas City’s starting pitching bailed out the offense yet again, lowering their already league-leading starters’ ERA and widening the gap between them and the Twins.

The Royals scored their only run off of Bumgarner in the 5th and held just the 1-0 lead heading into the 8th, when Eric Hosmer grabbed a one-out double and was driven in by a Salvador Perez single.

Kelvin Herera led of the 9th inning with a walk, but got the next three Giants to preserve the Royals 2-0 win.

The win brings the Royals back to .500 at 7-7, while the Giants drop to 6-10 on the season. The Royals will also travel to San Francisco for another two-game mini-series on June 13-14.

Up Next: Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers; Thursday, April 20 at 7:05 PM CDT at Globe Life Park in Arlington. LHP Danny Duffy (2-0, 1.80 ERA) v. RHP Andrew Cashner (0-1, 5.06 ERA)