Yusei Kikuchi struck out 12 in seven innings to lead the Houston Astros to a 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Kikuchi (7-9) improved to 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA since he was acquired by Houston a day before the trade deadline. He gave up five hits, only allowing Kansas City a run on a fielder’s choice grounder that followed two singles in the seventh. He threw 101 pitches, including 75 for strikes and walked none.

Kikuchi had no run support until the Astros chased Royals starter Cole Ragans (10-9) in a five-run sixth inning. Yainer Diaz hit a two-run single and Jeremy Peña hit a two-run truple during the inning, before Peña scored on a wild pitch.

Ragans looked dominant for much of the first five innings, allowing just one hit. At one point, he matched a Royals franchise record with eight consecutive strikeouts. The record was previously set by Blake Stein in 2001 at Milwaukee.

Ragans finished with 10 strikeouts, pushing his season total to 197, which is the most by a Royals lefty in a single season.

Ryan Pressly pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.

Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. hit his 29th home run of the season in the eighth inning off reliever Hector Neris, who the Astros signed on Aug. 24 after he was released by the Cubs on Aug. 20.

Witt, who leads the major leagues in hits, batting average and runs, had previously had a rough time in Houston, going 0 for 11 this series. He entered Saturday 0 for 19 in his home state of Texas.

Later in the eighth, Royals right fielder Garrett Hampson robbed Alvarez of what would have been his 29th homer of the season. Hampson leaped at the wall and had to fully extend his left arm well above the yellow home run line to bring it back. Alvarez wore a large grin as he trotted back to the dugout.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: 3B Alex Bregman is “still sore” but was “much better” as he missed Saturday’s game with elbow soreness that has sidelined him for several games in recent weeks.

UP NEXT

Royals RHP Alec Marsh (7-7, 4.67 ERA) will start against Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (9-6, 3.14) as Houston goes for a four-game sweep on Sunday.