Royals Beat Mariners 6-1; Hit Many Singles

What a weird game. It’s like the Royals decided to mock all of those criticizing their lack of power by hitting a plethora of non-powerful hits. I’m not complaining. They beat the Mariners 6-1 tonight on the back of sixteen singles.

That is, in fact, not a made-up number. Sixteen. Singles.

The Royals did not have one extra-base hit and they had only one walk. Single after single after single. Several Royals had multi-hit games including Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Alex Gordon who all had three hits while Nori Aoki and Lorenzo Cain each collected two apiece.

Kansas City scored one in the top of the first before striking again with one in the third inning and two in the fourth. They closed out the game scoring one run apiece in the sixth and eighth innings respectively. Seattle scored their lone run after a double by Brad Miller followed by a throwing error by Aoki that allowed James Jones to score from third. The Mariners only had five hits and two walks over the course of the game as the Royals pitching staff gave a strong outing.

Jason Vargas got the win going seven strong innings and giving up three hits with six strikeouts and no walks. Aaron Crow and Tim Collins each pitched an inning of relief with Aaron Crow “giving up” Seattle’s unearned run. Vargas is now 3-1 with a 3.04 ERA

Brandon Maurer took the loss for the Mariners going 7.1 innings and giving up six runs (four of them earned) on fourteen hits. He didn’t have any strikeouts or walks. Charlie Furbush and Tom Wilhelmsen helped finish out the game for Seattle. Maurer is now 1-1 with a 6.20 ERA.

The Royals hope to guarantee a split at the very least tomorrow night as Yordano Ventura will face Chris Young.