Seth Smith prepares to touch home plate after hitting his 100th career home run
Kris Medlen served up a solo home run to Seth Smith to lead off the sixth inning. That would be the only hit the Seattle Mariners would get on the night and it would be the only run they would need. Smith’s homer proved to be the game winner as the Royals dropped their fourth straight in a 1-0 final in Seattle on Friday night.
“He did a nice job,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of Medlen. “The first couple of innings, he was off his tempo and his timing, and that’s where he got four of the five walks he had, and in the third inning he really settled down, making better pitches. He was ahead better in the count. He had a really good changeup tonight and was using it to his advantage. I thought he pitched great.”
Going back to the Royals loss on Wednesday against the Angels, the Royals have allowed six hits in the last two games–four of them have been homers.
The Royals couldn’t get the hit they needed against Mariners’ ace Felix Hernandez. They scraped out five singles and three walks while striking out four times in 7.2 innings. KC had the tying run on third after Alcides Escobar singled, stole second and moved to third on a flyout. Reliever Nick Vincent got Lorenzo Cain to ground out to end the eighth. Hernandez also left runners stranded on third in the second and third innings.
Steve Cishek struck out two after a lead off single to Eric Hosmer in the ninth and got Salvy Perez to fly out to end the game.
The Royals were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and are now 0 for their last 18 in two games.