Mariners mute meek monarch mashers 4-2

The Kansas City Royals couldn’t come up with big hits with runners on as they fell 4-2 to the Seattle Mariners this afternoon.

Alec Marsh labored early on. His perfect game bid ended when Julio Rodríguez singled with one out in the first. He stole second when Mitch Hanigar swung through a fastball. The Royals disagreed, though, and upon replay review Rodríguez was called out, giving Kansas City a double play of the strike-’em-out-throw-’em-out variety. Cal Raleigh then led off the second by dumping one into no-man’s land for a single and, after the red-hot Luke Raley singled, Seattle had runners on the corners with nobody out. Marsh got Ty France to pop-up and struck out Dominic Canzone, but Dylan Moore walked to load the bases. It looked like Marsh would escape unscathed when Luis Urías grounded one down the third base line but Adam Frazier, making his first appearance at third base since 2017, booted it and allowed a run to score. Josh Rojas then grounded out to end the inning, but Seattle led 1-0 and Marsh had already thrown 52 pitches.

Marsh managed to settle in after the second, allowing a solo homer to France in the fourth but little else. Bryan Woo, meanwhile, was cruising from the jump, working quickly and pounding the strike zone. Through five innings, he allowed only a bunt single, retiring the other 15 batters on just 57 pitches, 46 of which were fastballs. The only other notable hit came when Bobby Witt Jr. fouled a pitch straight back into the facemask of home plate umpire Jim Wolf. He exited the game in the bottom of the fifth, leading to a pretty long delay as Ryan Blakney put on the gear to take over behind the dish. The rest of the game was played with only three umpires on the field.

Perhaps the long layoff for Woo between innings benefitted the Royals as Freddy Fermin lined a leadoff single in the sixth for the first non-bunt hit by a Royal. Kyle Isbel followed by battling for a nine-pitch walk, giving Kansas City their first real scoring opportunity of the game. Frazier then doinked one into left field to load the bases with nobody out and Witt coming to the plate, literally the best big-inning setup you could ask for. Witt unfortunately did not hit a grand slam, but he did poke one deep enough to center field to score Fermin and get Isbel to third. With the score 2-1, Seattle brought in old friend Gabe Speier to stop the bleeding. And stop the bleeding he did, getting Vinnie Pasquantino on a pop-up to the catcher and punching out Salvador Perez on three pitches.

After Seattle tacked on another run in the seventh, Kansas City entered the eighth staring down a 3-1 deficit. Fermin led off the inning by putting down a bunt and beating out the throw to first, the second bunt hit of the day for the team. After Isbel flew out, Frazier ripped an Austin Voth cutter into the right field corner for a double, giving the Royals runners on second and third with one out. Once again, Witt strode to the plate with a golden opportunity to plate some runs. Once again, he only managed to plate one while recording an out, this time on a knuckler to the second baseman that scored Fermin. Pasquantino was unable to bring home the tying run, striking out to end the inning.

The Mariners answered back immediately when Raley continued his warpath with an RBI knock, though he was cut down by Hunter Renfroe trying to stretch his hit into a double. That ran the score to 4-2 entering the ninth. With one more opportunity to rally, Perez led off with a double. After Michael Massey flew out, Renfroe hit a grounder to third and Urías biffed the throw, putting runners at the corners with one out. The rally would go no further as MJ Melendez and Fermin struck out to end the game.

The loss drops the Royals to 26-19. They will have the day off tomorrow before welcoming the Oakland A’s to town for a series starting Friday evening.

Alec Marsh: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Bryan Woo: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR

Freddy Fermin: 2-4, 2 R

Luke Raley: 2-4, RBI