By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals offense again struggled to produce hits, and even get on base mustering just five total baserunners, falling to the Seattle Mariners in their series opener on Monday night 6-2 at T-Mobile Park, ending June with a record of 8-18 on the month.
The Royals opened the scoring in the top of the third inning with an RBI single by Bobby Witt Jr, driving in Kyle Isbel who singled earlier in the inning with two outs. Kansas City would not score again, or get another hit, until the eighth inning.
Seattle tied the game up in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Randy Arozarena. In the fifth inning, they took the lead with a four run frame, first getting a sacrifice fly by the American League leader in home runs Cal Raleigh, scoring Cole Young. Arozarena’s second home run of the game drove in the other three runs, bringing home J.P Crawford and Julio Rodriguez.
In the seventh inning, Raleigh extended his home run lead hitting a solo home run for the final Mariners score, giving him 33 home runs on the season. The Royals scored their final run in the eighth inning on a force out by Witt Jr, with Jonathan India being thrown out at second, as John Rave scored.
Michael Wacha took the loss for the Royals, falling to 4-8 on the season, pitching five innings and giving up five runs on eight hits, striking out one and walking two. At the plate, Witt Jr was 1-for-4 with two RBI’s. Isbel was 1-for-2 with the walk. India and Rave had the other two Kansas City hits.
Kansas City and Seattle continue their series tomorrow. Michael Lorenzen (4-8, 4.91 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Emerson Hancock (3-4, 5.30 ERA) for the Mariners. First pitch is at 8:40pm, pregame will begin at 8 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
