KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Montgomery continues to dominate the club that drafted him out of high school.

Montgomery allowed five hits over six-plus innings, David Bote drove in a career-high three runs and the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 Tuesday night.

The Cubs upped their NL Central lead to 2 ½ games over second-place Milwaukee, which lost in San Diego.

Montgomery (4-4), who the Royals drafted in the first round in 2008, picked up his first win since June 29. Montgomery is 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in four appearances against the Royals.

“I’ve heard the numbers of what I’ve got against them throughout my career,” Montgomery said. “I think it’s a coincidence. Sometimes you just have a team that you do well against. It happens to be them. They’ve had some good teams over the last couple of years. The team that drafts you, you always want to pitch good against them.”

Bote’s first career triple with two out in the first scored Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward. His fifth inning single scored Javier Baez.

“It’s kind of just morphed in over the years,” said Bote, who is in his fifth stint with the Cubs this season after six-plus years in the minors. “The nerves are always there. The adrenalin’s there. Being able to use those emotions into a good avenue, being able to think ‘I’m going to attack this baseball’ or ‘I’m ready for this pitch.’ Put a positive spin on it and just executing.”

Victor Caratini, who led off the inning with a single, scored on Zobrist’s sacrifice fly. Zobrist left in the bottom of the inning with left hip tightness, but will likely play Wednesday.

“That fifth inning just kind of snowballed on me,” losing pitcher Brad Keller said.