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Everett Teaford threw 51 of his 73 pitches for strikes in his first career start for the Kansas City Royals during a 2-1 road victory over the Seattle Mariners. Teaford would toss five innings, allowing no runs on just three hits while striking out five and walking just one batter.
Kansas City only posted two runs, but it was enough to give the Royals their 62nd win of the season, as they sit at 62-86 overall. Seattle falls to 61-85 with the loss. For Teaford it was his first career major league win as well.
Alex Gordon lead the Royals at the plate, much like he has done all season. Gordon was 2-for-5 with 2 RBI. His two hits were both doubles, giving him 45 on the season. With his effort, he passed Ben Zobrist and teammate Jeff Francoeur for the league lead in doubles.
After Alcides Escobar singled with two outs in the third inning off Mariners starter Anthony Vasquez, Gordon doubled to left to drive in Escobar for a 1-0 lead. The Royals would add to it in the seventh inning when Gordon doubled again off reliever Shawn Kelley. Brayan Pena had singled and advanced to single on a Chris Getz sacrifice to set the scoring opportunity in place. The run was charged to Vasquez who went six innings allowing two runs on seven hits.
Seattle would get on the board in the eighth against Greg Holland as Ichiro Suzuki doubled to score Michael Saunders with two outs. Saunders had pinch-ran for Josh Bard after Bard singled with one out.
Joakim Soria gave up a two-out single to Justin Smoak in the bottom of the ninth but former Kansas City player Miguel Olivo would fly out to end the game as Soria picked up his 28th save.