Merrifield's hit streak reaches 30 as Royals fall to M's

Dee Gordon had three hits and two RBIs as the Seattle Mariners claimed a 6-3 victory over the host Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night. The Mariners extended baseball's best record to 11-2 with their fourth straight win.

Whit Merrifield continues to be the lone bright spot for the Royals, who lost their eighth game in a row. He led off the bottom of the first with a triple to extend his hitting streak to 30 games, dating back to last season. The streak is tied for the longest in Royals history with Hall of Famer George Brett's run from in 1980, the year he hit .390. Merrifield finished 2-for-5.

Seattle starter Marco Gonzales (4-0) pitched six-plus innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out five and walked two. Anthony Swarzak pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save in two opportunities. Kansas City's Jakob Junis (1-1) gave up four runs on eight hits in four innings. He struck out six and walked one, and his offense gave him little help. The Royals' No. 5 through No. 8 hitters in the Tuesday starting lineup are now hitting a combined .147 (15-for-102).

The Mariners have scored five or more runs in 12 of their 13 games this season. With 33 home runs, they have matched the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals for the most in baseball history through 13 games. The Mariners got on the board in the first inning when Jay Bruce hit his league-leading seventh home run. The Mariners have now hit at least one home run in all 13 games this season. The only team to open the season with more games with home runs since 1908 was the 2002 Cleveland Indians (14 games).

Kansas City answered with a run in the bottom of the first when Adalberto Mondesi drove in Merrifield with a single. Bruce drove in the second Seattle run in the third on a groundout, scoring Gordon. But the Royals tied it again in the bottom of the third. Billy Hamilton reached on a two-base error by left fielder Domingo Santana. Mondesi drove a one-out pitch to the wall, and Hamilton scored all the way from second on a sacrifice fly.

Gordon's two-run single in the fourth gave the Mariners a 4-2 lead, an edge they did not relinquish. His ground ball just beyond the reach of second baseman Chris Owings scored Ryon Healy and Omar Narvaez, who opened the inning with hits. Richard Lovelady, the Royals' fourth pitcher of the night, made his major league debut with a perfect eighth inning.

--Field Level Media

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