By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals bullpen blew a solid start from St. Joseph’s Noah Cameron, as the Royals dropped the third game of their series with the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park 3-2, setting up the finale tomorrow searching for a series split.
The Royals jumped out in front in the first inning for Cameron, with Salvador Perez singling home Bobby Witt Jr who singled earlier in the inning and stole second base. With the lead, Cameron pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings before he was replaced by John Schreiber with two runners in scoring position in the fifth inning.
Schreiber escaped that jam, but in the sixth surrendered a game tying home run to Randy Arozarena, his fourth home run of the series. Schreiber was replaced later in the inning by Angel Zerpa, and Zerpa went on to give up the lead in the seventh inning as Julio Rodriguez singled home Ben Williamson off Steven Cruz who replaced Zerpa in the seventh, the run being charged to Zerpa. Cole Young, another runner left on by Zerpa, scored on a sacrifice fly by Arozarena in the inning as well.
Perez drove in another run in the eighth inning for Kansas City with another single, bringing home Witt Jr again. But in the ninth inning, Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz retired the Royals 1-2-3 for his 19th save of the season.
Zerpa took the loss, falling to 3-1 on the season, pitching 2/3 of an inning and giving up two runs on one hit. At the plate for the Royals, Witt Jr was 2-for-2 with a stolen base and two walks, scoring two runs. Perez was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s.
Kansas City and Seattle wrap up their series tomorrow. Seth Lugo (5-5, 2.74 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Bryan Woo (7-4, 2.93 ERA) for the Mariners. First pitch is at 9:10pm, pregame begins at 8:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
