KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City offense showed up big-time in a doubleheader Sunday split with the Seattle Mariners.

The Royals scored 16 runs and banged out 23 hits, including five home runs, in the two games.

Melky Cabrera and Eric Hosmer were a combined 6-for-9 with seven RBIs, and each hit a home run as the Royals routed the Seattle Mariners 9-1 in the second game. Seattle took the opener 8-7.

Cabrera hit a three-run homer in the third inning of the nightcap, and Whit Merrifield added a solo shot in the frame. Hosmer went deep in the sixth, and he and Cabrera each had a run-scoring hit in a four-run seventh.

"Our bats were OK in the first game," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We scored seven and that just kind of picked right up, especially in the third inning with the four-spot. With Melky's home run, Whit's home run and Hos hitting that home run and adding runs late."

The first four Royals hitters -- Merrifield, Lorenzo Cain, Hosmer and Cabrera -- went 11-for-19 with three home runs, a double, eight RBIs and eight runs.

"A lot of offense at the top of the order," Yost said.

And that was the undoing of Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez.

"The middle of their lineup we could not keep under control," Mariners manager Scott Servais said, whose team won split the four-game set at Kauffman Stadium. "We did a pretty good job in this series until the last game. Then they got their hits and drove in runs. They're good, and they got it going and we just couldn't stop them."

Jake Junis (4-2) picked up the victory, holding the Mariners to one run and four hits over eight innings.

"Spectacular," Yost said of Junis' performance. "His curveball and slider were his 'A' curveball and slider. He was getting easy outs. He managed his pitch count great. It was a big boost for us."

He retired the final 19 batters he faced, and his seven strikeouts were a career high. Junis, added to the roster as the Royals' 26th man for the doubleheader, didn't issue a walk.

"Later in the game, we were relying on two-seam fastballs to get ahead and let them swing the bat and get themselves out," Junis said. "I definitely felt like I hit my stride around the fifth inning, where I was getting some quick outs and some quick innings and a lot of momentum, and it just carried."

Ramirez (4-4) is winless since June 21. He surrendered five runs on eight hits, including three home runs, in five-plus innings.

"Melky got a fastball inside," Ramirez said, "but he's got a pretty short swing, but quick. He's got power. He's having a great year and got good contact. That changed, really, the whole course of the game."

Nelson Cruz hit two home runs and drove in four runs as the Mariners won the first game. Danny Valencia and Kyle Seager also homered as Seattle jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second inning.

In the second game, Danny Espinosa's two-out double in the second off the right field wall scored Leonys Martin, who had singled, giving the Mariners a 1-0 advantage.

Merrifield, who also homered in the first game, homered in the bottom of the third. Merrifield deposited a 2-1 Ramirez pitch into the Royals' bullpen.

Kansas City was not through scoring in the third. Cain, who had three hits in the first game, and Hosmer, who snapped a 0-for-14, singled.

Cabrera, whom the Royals picked up at the trade deadline from the Chicago White Sox, homered with Cain and Hosmer along for the ride in the third. It was his first home run since joining the Royals and his 14th of the season.

Junis made his first big league start since June 29, a loss to the Detroit Tigers. He did pick up a victory in relief on July 24 at Detroit.

NOTES: Seattle RHP David Phelps left with elbow discomfort after facing one batter in the seventh. ... The Mariners obtained All-Star 1B Yonder Alonso from the Athletics for minor league OF Boog Powell. Alonso is scheduled to join the Mariners on Tuesday in Oakland. ... The Royals put C Salvador Perez on the 10-day disabled list with a right intercostal strain. They recalled C Cameron Gallagher from Triple-A Omaha, and he went 1-for-3 in the nightcap in his big league debut. ... The Mariners promoted RHP Cody Martin as the designated 26th man for the second game. ... Mariners C Mike Zunino went 0-for-11 and struck out seven times in the series, failing to get the ball out of the infield. ... LHP Ariel Miranda will start for the Mariners in the opener at Oakland on Tuesday, while the Athletics will start RHP Kendall Graveman. ... Royals RHP Ian Kennedy and St. Louis RHP Carlos Martinez are the probables for Monday in Kansas City.