After coming off a big series win in Texas over the weekend against the Rangers, the Seattle Mariners got out the bats in their series opening game against Kansas City Royals.
Seattle got it going right away off of Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie. Kyle Seager blasted a solo home run to make it 1-0 right off of the bat and two batters later, Robinson Cano followed with another solo home run, and just like that, the Mariners had a 2-0 lead.
Then in the third, Seattle had their best offensive inning of the season as they plated seven runs. Kyle Seager reached by error scoring a run, Robinson Cano blasted a three run home run, his second of the game, Jesus Montero forced in a run off of a fielder's choice, then finally Brad Miller crushed a two run home run to make it 9-0.
Guthrie had a night to forget as he lasted just 2.1 innings, giving up nine runs (8 ER) on nine hits while striking out two and walking none.
The Mariners, however, weren’t done scoring quite yet as Jesus Montero wanted to join in on the action as he crushed a two run home run to make it 11-0.
As for Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma, he turned in one of his best outings of the season. He went seven innings scoreless, giving up just three hits while striking out 10 and walking just one.
The Royals did tack on a few runs in the final two innings, but this game was all Mariners. Francisco Pena reached by error, which scored Alcides Escobar in the eighth and then in the ninth Escobar singled to score Alex Rios, but the Mariners weren’t threatened at all and won 11-2.
Jesus Montero, Brad Miller, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and Ketel Marte all tallied two hits in this one as Seattle pounded out 13 hits total. The Royals were led by Alcides Escobar who was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored as Kansas City tallied seven hits.
With the win, Seattle is three games under .500 for the first time since June 1. They are still 6.5 games back in the Wild Card, but it is good to see this team finishing strong down the stretch. As for the Royals, they are on cruise control in the AL Central, but want to finish strong and carry some momentum into the playoffs.
The series continues Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City with game two of the three-game series as southpaw Roenis Elias will take the hill for the Mariners and will be opposed by flamethrower Yordano Ventura of the Royals.
WP: Hisashi Iwakuma (9-4, 3.67 ERA)
LP: Jeremy Guthrie (8-8, 5.95 ERA)