Seattle Mariners vs Kansas City Royals Match Player Stats On Apr 10, 2019

Mitch Haniger's two-out, solo home run in the top of the ninth inning gave the Seattle Mariners a 6-5 victory over the host Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night as the Mariners extended baseball's best record to 12-2 with their fifth straight win.

The Royals (2-9) have lost nine straight.

Anthony Swarzak (1-0) picked up the win in relief for Seattle. The Royals loaded the bases against Roenis Elias in the ninth before Adalberto Mondesi popped out to shortstop to end the game.

Brad Boxberger (0-2) took the loss for Kansas City.

Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 31 games with an RBI bunt single in the seventh, which tied the game at the time. He passed Hall of Famer George Brett for the longest hitting streak in Royals history and the streak is now tied for the 26th longest in major league history.

The Mariners became the second team since 1908 (2002 Cleveland Indians) to homer in each of their first 14 games. They now have scored five or more runs in 13 of their 14 games this season. Their 34 home runs through 14 games match the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals for the most in baseball history.

Seattle's Yusei Kikuchi pitched well but took a no-decision. He gave up three runs on five hits in six innings, retiring Merrifield all three times he faced him. He retired the last 10 batters he faced after Jorge Soler hit the second of two home runs Kikuchi surrendered.

Seattle's Jay Bruce was replaced by pinch hitter Domingo Santana in the fourth inning because of tightness in his left Achilles.

Both teams scored in the first inning in very similar ways -- with two-out hits followed by RBI singles. Edwin Encarnacion knocked in Bruce for Seattle, while Soler drove in Mondesi for the Royals.

The Royals got their second run on a 453-foot home run by Hunter Dozier in the second.

Kansas City starter Heath Fillmyer hit the leadoff batter in the third, then walked the next two to load the bases with no outs. He got out of the inning without allowing a hit, but two sacrifice flies gave the Mariners the lead.

Soler then hit a home run a foot farther than Dozier, this one to left center. The wind, gusting to 20 mph, wasn't needed as Dozier's (113) and Soler's home runs (114) had exit velocities better than 110 mph.

The Mariners chased Fillmyer with no outs in the fourth with three straight singles. A two-run single by Mallex Smith off Scott Barlow gave the Mariners the lead, but Barlow then struck out Haniger and got Domingo Santana to ground into a double play.

The Royals tied the score in the bottom of the seventh on Merrifield's bunt base hit. Chris Owings led off with a double and scored on Terrance Gore's two-out triple that just eluded a diving Smith in right center. It was Gore's first career extra-base hit and RBI. Merrifield then dropped the bunt down the third-base line, driving in Gore.

--Field Level Media