KANSAS CITY -- As much as Seth Lugo likes to think about the many different ways he can get hitters out with his many, many different pitches, he doesn’t like to sit and think about past starts for long.

So Monday couldn’t have come quick enough for the Royals' righty.

After giving up a season-high eight runs (seven earned) last week against the Twins, Lugo officially put that start behind him and got back on track Monday night with seven strong innings against the Angels, allowing just two runs with eight strikeouts in the Royals’ 5-3 win at Kauffman Stadium. The victory pushed Kansas City into a tie for second place in the American League Central after Minnesota's loss to the Padres (although the Twins hold the tiebreaker).

“Whenever you have a bad one and have to sit on it for a week, it’s tough,” Lugo said. “You want to get out there as soon as possible. To bounce back after a couple of rough ones, it feels real nice.”

Lugo had allowed six or more runs (four or more earned) in three of his past four starts. This past week, his goal was to figure out and fix what was going wrong.

What Lugo found centered around his fastballs. They were higher in the zone when he was trying to pitch down, and his vert “wasn’t what I would like to be,” he said. Those two things were a focus during his bullpen over the weekend, and he felt something different.

“It just seemed like the ball came out of my hand different,” Lugo said. “I took that to the mound, looked at the numbers on the Trackman, and they were turning into the numbers I wanted.”

Lugo took that feedback and applied it on the mound Monday. He got the swing and miss he needed with his four-seam in the fifth inning when he put two on base with a double and walk and no outs. Because Lugo was able to land pitches down like he wanted to earlier in the game -- and not face much pressure from the Angels' lineup -- he was able to climb the ladder against Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell, both of whom struck out on elevated four-seam fastballs.

Lugo got out of the inning with a strikeout to Taylor Ward on a breaking ball.

“I knew the hitters’ weaknesses,” Lugo said. “I knew they chase up a little bit. I think the way I pitched throughout the game kind of set up those pitches. It worked out.”

Lugo has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year and certainly one of the Royals’ best, with his 3.02 ERA and Major League-leading 166 2/3 innings across 26 starts. He’s been everything they’ve needed on the field and in the clubhouse -- and as one of the best free-agent signings of the offseason.

He’s been so good that his last few starts weren’t what the Royals have come to expect of him. Bouncing back like Monday was more like it.

“He’s a human being, so he wants to do well,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I know that weighed on his mind. … You give him the ball every fifth or sixth day, and he’s been really good for us. He’s set the bar so high early, it’s just not realistic to have a start like that every time out for 30-plus starts.”

The Royals’ offense provided what Lugo needed, especially a huge two-run home run from Paul DeJong in the fourth inning -- his 21st of the season and third with the Royals -- and crucial RBIs from Salvador Perez. The Royals' catcher singled in the third inning to get his team on the board, and his two-run double in the seventh scored Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino to widen the lead again.

“I like big opportunities,” Perez said. “And I’m going to try to do my job. It was a good moment. Winning the game is even better.”

Pasquantino showed some speed when he scored from first on a ball into left field -- a byproduct, he told Quatraro, of some “lighter shoes” that Under Armor had just sent him.

Although Pasquantino’s Statcast-projected 26.7 feet/second sprint speed wasn’t his fastest ever -- he checked -- it did give the Royals some needed insurance runs after the Angels showed some life against Lugo with two runs in the top of the seventh.

“One-run game, you can’t get much tighter,” Quatraro said. “We weren’t going to use [reliever Lucas] Erceg today, so you’re going to put somebody in a spot that they’re not in most of the time. … That was huge.”