PITTSBURGH — Rookie right-hander Heath Fillmyer made his fifth quality start of the season against the Pirates at PNC Park on Wednesday, but the Royals’ offense was held quiet for the second night in a row as Kansas City fell to Pittsburgh, 2-1.

Fillmyer allowed a pair of runs over seven innings on Wednesday while recording five strikeouts. He was the third straight rookie pitcher to start for the Royals in their Interleague series with the Pirates, and the young arms provided good reason to be optimistic about the future in Kansas City. The trio combined to allow six earned runs over 19-plus innings.

The loss drops the Royals to 52-100, marking the fifth time in franchise history they’ve lost 100 games and the first occurrence since 2006. They’ve now lost 17 of their last 20 games played away from the comfort of Kauffman Stadium.

Fillmyer served up a leadoff double to Corey Dickerson in the second inning. Two batters later, Colin Moran lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left field to plate Dickerson and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Adalberto Mondesi added another milestone to his impressive 2018 campaign in the third inning, when he drove Pirates right-hander Chris Archer’s fastball over the center-field wall to tie the game at 1. It was Mondesi’s 10th home run in 65 games with the Royals this season.

With two outs in the fifth inning, Fillmyer elevated an 80.1-mph curveball to Adam Frazier that resulted in a go-ahead home run to center field.