Royals get bats going to snap 5-game skid

SEATTLE — The Royals looked a lot more like themselves on Sunday, snapping a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Mariners at Safeco Field that allowed them to head home with one victory from an otherwise dreary West Coast swing while slowing down hot Seattle in the process.

It was a typical Kansas City victory blueprint, with five effective innings from starter Ian Kennedy (one run on four hits and six strikeouts), good bullpen work (Danny Duffy, Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis pitched innings 6-9), solid defense and timely hits.

Kansas City hadn’t scored a run in 27 innings until it put one on the board in the second after Alex Gordon was hit by a pitch by Seattle starter Taijuan Walker and Salvador Perez and Omar Infante followed with soft singles. The Royals tacked on another run in the third when Alcides Escobar led off with a bloop double and scored two batters later on Lorenzo Cain’s base hit.

A Ketel Marte error led to the Royals’ third run, and the Kansas City bullpen did its job, particularly in the sixth, when the Mariners loaded the bases with none out against Kennedy, who was over 100 pitches. Duffy was able to wiggle out of it having given up only one run. That was partially because of an inning-ending assist by right fielder Jarrod Dyson, who threw out Robinson Cano at the plate …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com