Salvador Perez went 3 for 4 with three RBIs as the Kansas City Royals defeated the visiting Seattle Mariners 8-6 on Sunday afternoon.
Seth Lugo pitched 6 1/3 quality innings for the Royals, who won their second game in a row following a 1-10 stretch.
Rookie Colt Emerson went 4 for 4 with three doubles and Julio Rodriguez homered for the Mariners, who have lost six of their past nine heading into a three-game series with the American League West-leading Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif.
Lugo (2-4), a right-hander, allowed three runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Rodriguez went deep to left field off Lugo with one out in the top of the first.
The score remained 1-0 until the fifth, when the Royals scored four times to knock out Seattle starter Bryan Woo.
Michael Massey, the No. 8 hitter in the Royals’ lineup, drew a leadoff walk and Kyle Isbel dropped a two-strike bunt down the third-base line for a single, with Woo’s late throw sailing down the right-field line to put runners at second and third.
Woo looked like he might get out of the jam when he got Maikel Garcia to ground out to third and Bobby Witt Jr. to fly out to center. An intentional walk to Vinnie Pasquantino loaded the bases for Perez, who grounded a two-run single to left. Carter Jensen hit a drive to the fence in left that Randy Arozarena misplayed into a double, scoring two more runs and ending Woo’s afternoon.
The Royals added a run in the sixth as Isaac Collins led off with a double to left-center, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Massey and scored on Isbel’s sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.
The Mariners got a couple of runs back in the seventh. With one out, Dominic Canzone doubled to right, Mitch Garver singled to center and Emerson hit a bloop single down the left-field line to score Canzone. J.P. Crawford singled to left off reliever Daniel Lynch IV to pull Seattle within 5-3.
The Royals got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Pasquantino doubled off the glove of first baseman Josh Naylor and Perez lined an RBI single to left.
Kansas City plated its final runs in the eighth on Garcia’s two-out single to left after a pair of walks to start the inning.
The Mariners scored three runs with two outs in the ninth. Emerson doubled and scored on Rodriguez’s two-out single. After Rodriguez took second on defensive indifference, Naylor hit a run-scoring single and he came home on Arozarena’s double to left.
Woo (4-3) gave up four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked two and fanned four.
