The Royals took advantage of their opportunities at the plate, got timely pitching and defense and got back into the win column with a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.
Eric Hosmer hit his fourth homer of the season to give the Royals their three-run lead in the eighth, but a nice throw from Jarrod Dyson nailed Robinson Cano at home plate in the sixth that could have made it a one-run game.
Chris Iannetta singled scoring Seth Smith, but Cano was throw out to end the inning. Danny Duffy bailed out starter Ian Kennedy who improved to 3-2.
That was the lone run charged to Kennedy who gave way to Danny Duffy in the sixth after Kennedy loaded the bases. Duffy got two strikeouts before the run scoring single.
In the second, Alex Gordon got hit by a pitch and moved to third on a single by Salvador Perez and then scored on Omar Infante’s single.
In the third, Alcides Escobar doubled and advanced on a nice two-strike groundout by Mike Moustakas who was able to pull the pitch to the right side. Lorenzo Cain was jammed and muscled a single to center to make it 2-0.
Cain later singled, stole second and scored after Hosmer’s infield single and a throwing error.
Seattle starter Taijuan Walker took his first loss of the year, giving up three runs, two earned in five innings.
