Seattle Mariners defeat Kansas City Royals 3-2 to avoid four-game losing streak – MLB Update
Seattle Mariners put in a good performance to defeat Kansas City Royals 3-2 to avoid a four match sweep at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City on Sunday, April 17.
When you have someone with the talent of Ichiro Suzuki on the team it is hard to lose game after game. Seattle has not had the best of starts this season and even though it has only been two weeks since the year’s season began, the Mariners have been struggling
since the very start.
The Seattle Mariners barely avoided losing for the fourth time to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Brendan Ryan was Seattle’s saviour in the seventh inning as he belted out a two run single which made all the difference in the outcome of the match. When Brandon came out he had a two run lead that he had to protect in the ninth inning. Kila Ka’aihue advanced
towards second base as Brandon gave up a one out single. Wilson Betemit then followed with a single to centre-field.
Brayan Pena had his third save of the season as Mike Aviles the pinch runner stole second base.
Another run came in for the Mariners as Justin Smoak hit twice and Milton Bradley helped Seattle with one more run.
Michael Pineda gave up on run through three hits and let four walk within six innings. He finished off with five strike-outs.
"That's as good a young arm that I've seen in a long time," said Kansas City outfielder Jeff Francoeur about their right handed Rookie, Pineda.
During six and one third innings, Jeff Francis gave up six hits and allowed three runs for the Royals. They started scoring in the fifth inning as Francoeur started off with a double and came back to home base on Pena’s sacrifice fly.
With a gap of one run in the sixth inning, the Mariners tied the score with the Royals as Bradley belted out a RBI triple and then stayed in the seventh because of a two run single by Brendan Ryan.
"I think I can safely speak for everybody - I hope I can - that we're not having fun right now," said Ryan. "I'm not having any fun. This is not how I wanted to start out the season, personally and as a team. So I'm trying to get better."
It will be interesting to see how Seattle can carry their winning momentum into their next match-up. Kansas City put in a decent performance, but it was not enough to contain the Mariners’ offence.
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