KANSAS CITY (Interstat) — Seth Lugo pitched six strong innings and the Kansas City Royals withstood a ninth-inning rally by the St. Louis Cardinals to win 6-5 on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Lugo allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out one to improve to 3-4 on the season. Alex Lange recorded his fifth save despite allowing a hit in one-third of an inning. Michael McGreevy took the loss for St. Louis, falling to 3-6 after giving up eight hits and five earned runs over five innings with two strikeouts.

The game drew an announced crowd of 27,323 and lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes.

St. Louis struck first in the top of the first inning. Iván Herrera walked and moved to third on Alec Burleson’s double. Jordan Walker then lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Herrera for a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals added a run in the third. Nathan Church walked, stole second or advanced? The play-by-play shows Church walked, then after a flyout, Herrera singled to right to score Church, making it 2-0.

Kansas City broke through in the fourth. Lane Thomas led off with a double and scored on Jac Caglianone’s single. After Salvador Perez grounded out, Michael Massey singled to center, scoring Caglianone, and Massey advanced to second on a throwing error by center fielder Nathan Church. Two batters later, Isaac Collins doubled to left, driving in Massey and John Rave, who had walked, giving the Royals a 4-2 lead.

The Royals extended their advantage in the fifth. Caglianone led off with his 10th home run of the season, a solo shot to left field that tied the game at 5. The inning continued with Salvador Perez doubling, but McGreevy escaped further damage.

Kansas City took the lead for good in the sixth. Nick Loftin walked, and after John Rave bunted into a popout, Collins doubled to put runners at second and third. Tyler Tolbert then delivered a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Loftin to make it 6-4.

St. Louis mounted a comeback in the ninth. Jordan Walker singled with one out, but Lars Nootbaar grounded into a forceout. Masyn Winn doubled to left, scoring Nootbaar to cut the deficit to 6-5. After Nelson Velázquez walked, Blaze Jordan singled to right, bringing home Winn and Velázquez to tie the game. However, the Cardinals’ rally stalled when José Fermín grounded into a forceout, ending the threat.

Jordan Walker finished 2-for-3 with an RBI for St. Louis. Blaze Jordan drove in two runs with a 1-for-4 performance. Nathan Church tripled and scored a run.

For Kansas City, Isaac Collins went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Caglianone was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run. Massey had two hits and scored twice.

Matt Svanson pitched two scoreless innings of relief for St. Louis, allowing no hits and striking out one. John Schreiber and Daniel Lynch IV each tossed a scoreless inning for Kansas City.

St. Louis fell to 40-34, while Kansas City improved to 32-45. The Cardinals had won the previous game in the series 6-5? Actually, the day before, Kansas City defeated St. Louis 14-6. The Royals have now won three of the last four meetings between the clubs.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis 6, Kansas City 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave St. Louis a 52.40 percent probability to win. St. Louis was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total of 11 runs went over the over-under line of 9.