Field Level Media
Aug 27, 2021
Salvador Perez hit a grand slam and Ervin Santana earned his first victory since 2017 as the Kansas City Royals rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat the host Seattle Mariners 6-4 Thursday night.
Santana pitched two perfect innings of relief to earn the victory, and fellow right-hander Scott Barlow worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.
Kyle Seager and Jake Fraley went deep for the Mariners, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Mariners reliever Joe Smith (2-2) took the loss after serving up Perez's slam.
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, the Mariners' All-Star representative, cruised through the first five innings, allowing only a leadoff single to Hunter Dozier in the second. However, Kikuchi never recorded an out in the sixth after the Mariners provided him a 4-0 lead.
Ryan O'Hearn led off the Kansas City sixth with a single up the middle, and Emmanuel Rivera lined a single to right. Whit Merrifield then doubled into the left-field corner, scoring O'Hearn. A walk to Nicky Lopez loaded the bases, and Kikuchi was lifted for Smith.
The move backfired as Perez hit a 2-0 pitch off the out-of-town scoreboard over the Royals bullpen in left field to make it 5-4. The home run was Perez's 35th of the season.
Kansas City added a run in the seventh as Rivera reached on a one-out fielding error by second baseman Abraham Toro, stole second and scored on Lopez's line-drive single to center.
The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first on a bases-loaded walk to Fraley.
The hosts extended the advantage in the fifth. Seager hit a solo shot, his 30th long ball of the season, with one out off right-hander Brad Keller, who massaged his arm after the homer. Following a consultation on the mound, Keller walked off accompanied by a trainer with what the team later termed posterior right shoulder discomfort.
Right-hander Joel Payamps replaced Keller and allowed a two-out single to Toro before Fraley went deep to right to make it 4-0. The homer was Fraley's ninth.
Keller allowed two runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings with four walks and three strikeouts.
Kikuchi was charged with four runs on four hits in five-plus innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
--Field Level Media