Today was really three games in one for the Kansas City Royals as they defeated the Seattle Mariners 9-8. After falling behind 4-0 early, the Royals came back to eventually take a 9-4 lead, and eventually holding on in the ninth inning for a 9-8 victory. With the win, Kansas City snaps a four game losing skid.
Bruce Chen went six inning for Kansas City and cruised along until the third when he gave up four runs to Seattle. Chen finished the day giving up four runs on five hits before giving way in the seventh to Robinson Tejeda.
Seattle starter Doug Fister also did a fine job giving up just one run through five innings, before Kansas City exploded for a five run sixth inning, fueled by a Lance Zawadzki two-run home run to bring the Royals within one, before Alex Gordon's two-run home run gave the Royals their first lead of the game at 5-4. Not to be outdone, Melky Cabrera hit a two-run shot of his own in the seventh. Cabrera lead the Royals with 3 RBI's on the day.
All but two Royals players obtained a hit, Gordon and Pedro Feliz each had two, while Zawadzki was 3-for-5 on the day.
After Joakim Soria did his usual thing and pitched a scoreless inning in the ninth, the Royals gave the ball to Jeremy Jeffress with a 9-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Jeffress struggled giving up five hits, walking a batter, and allowing four runs to score, before striking out Adam Moore to end the game.
While obviously it is never a good sign to see a player struggle out there like Jeffress did, I liked that he was able to work through it and the Royals still took home the win, with Jeffress on the mound. It is one thing to be taken out of the game and your teammates step up to save you from losing, but it speaks volumes that Jeffress stayed calm and was able to get the third out by himself.
Chen got the win and moved to 2-1, while Fister fell to 1-2 as Kansas City moves to 15-10-1, while Seattle is now 13-9.
Kansas City will be playing playing tomorrow night against the San Francisco Giants, the team which started the Royals' recent losing streak. The game will be FSN Kansas City for those of you in the viewing area. Vin Mazzaro will start opposite Madison Bumgarner for the Giants.