Royals snap 5-game losing streak with win

ROYALS 4, MARINERS 1

SEATTLE — Ian Kennedy felt like he only had one pitch working for him against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. He was still able to take a shutout into the sixth inning, and get a big boost from his bullpen when he finally ran into trouble.

Kennedy had a three-run lead when he loaded the bases in the sixth inning on two singles and a walk. Reliever Danny Duffy came on to bail out the Royals, who went on to win 4-1 to end a five-game losing streak.

“Danny coming in with the bases loaded right there and coming at them with great stuff was huge right there,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We had a three-run lead and it was starting to get away from us.”

Eric Hosmer homered, Lorenzo Cain had an RBI single and scored a run, and Alex Escobar had three hits and also scored for the Royals, who had been shut out in the first two games of this series. Kennedy (3-2) said his curveball and other offspeed pitches weren’t working against the Mariners, but he was still able to hold Seattle to four hits and struck out six in five-plus innings.

“At least I had a good fastball going,” Kennedy said. “Good location, good life on it. It was one of those days where I was trying to get by with the one good pitch I had.”

Kennedy loaded the bases in the sixth, Duffy struck out Dae-Ho Lee and Kyle Seager before Chris Iannetta hit a run-scoring single. However, Jarrod Dyson easily threw out Robinson Cano at home trying to score a second run.

“It was a big point in the game, would have been a big run with momentum and everything going in our favor, but they made a play,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.

The Royals, who came in with seven straight road losses, extended their scoreless streak to 27 innings before ending the drought in the second. Alex Gordon started it when he was hit by a pitch. He advanced to third on a short hit by Salvador Perez, then scored on Omar Infante’s single.

Kansas City added a run in the third on Cain’s RBI single up the middle.

The Mariners’ defense helped out the Royals in the fifth. With two outs and Cain on second base, Seattle shortstop Ketel Marte fielded Hosmer’s grounder moving toward third. Marte’s throw to first was wild, allowing Cain to score.