HEADLINE

Red-hot Mariners look for sweep against Royals

Field Level Media

April 11, 2019 at 7:37 am.

The Kansas City Royals hope to break from their doldrums, while the Seattle Mariners will look to ride their momentum as the two clubs will conclude a four-game series with a matinee Thursday afternoon at Kansas City.

The Mariners have won five consecutive games and have Major League Baseball’s best record at 12-2. The Royals (2-9) have lost nine consecutive after winning their first two games.

Both streaks were extended with the Mariners’ 6-5 victory Wednesday on Mitch Haniger’s two-out home run in the ninth inning. The game saw Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield tie the score with a two-out bunt single that extended his hitting streak to a club-record 31 games, passing Hall of Famer George Brett. In the end, it was the Mariners who prevailed.

Seattle manager Scott Servais was not surprised that Haniger came up big, even though he had struck out in his two previous at-bats.

“Not at all,” Servais said. “Mitch gives us great at-bats, with power to all fields. I didn’t know what was going to happen there. We had two outs, but it was a huge hit in the ballgame.”

Haniger’s home run extended an impressive streak by the Mariners. They tied the 2002 Cleveland Indians with home runs in each of their first 14 games. It’s the longest streak since 1908.

“It was nice to keep that home-run streak going too,” Servais said. “Guys were talking about it.”

Kansas City manager Ned Yost was impressed with the game.

“Anybody that came to this game really enjoyed this game,” he said. “It was a great game, full of excitement, great things. Whit breaking George’s record was fantastic. Terrance Gore (played) a lights-out game. Our starting pitching battled, struggled through it a little bit, but (Scott) Barlow came in on short rest and pitched his tail off. So did (Jake) Diekman and so did (Ian) Kennedy for two innings. And we had the bases loaded there in the ninth inning. It was a great game. We just didn’t win it.”

The burden to change that falls on Jorge Lopez (0-1, 4.09 ERA) on Thursday. Lopez has run into bad luck in his two starts. In his season debut, the Chicago White Sox’s Lucas Giolito, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He got a no-decision in his last start at Detroit.

Mike Leake (2-0, 2.92 ERA) will get the start for the Mariners. Leake says his success will depend on “making sure I’m really working at-bats rather than just kind of going after them.”

Merrifield hopes his personal success can rub off on his Royals teammates.

“The past couple of days we’re playing good baseball,” Merrifield said. “(We) just haven’t gotten over that hump. We’re 11 game in; there’s a lot of baseball left to be played.

“I think our division’s going to be up for grabs. By no means are we out of it. We have a confident group. We have a lot of guys that are eager to win. We saw what this place is like, from afar, going to back-to-back World Series. We want that again. We want that atmosphere. We want to be a part of that. Only Salvy (Salvador Perez, who is out for the season with Tommy John surgery) and Gordo (Alex Gordon) were a part of that. We want that. I think we’re closer than people give us credit for.”

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