Daniel Vogelbach homered in the top of the 10th inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 7-6 victory over the host Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
The Royals led 6-4 and were within one out of snapping their nine-game losing streak, but Mitch Haniger tripled off the wall in center to drive in the tying runs.
Kansas City not only lost its 10th straight, it may have lost center fielder Billy Hamilton to an injury. He collided with the wall on Haniger's triple and left the field on a cart.
The Royals' losing streak goes on, but Whit Merrifield's franchise-record hitting streak was snapped at 31 games after an 0-for-6 day.
Brandon Brennan (1-0) pitched the ninth for his first career win for Seattle. Connor Sadzeck picked up his first career save. Glenn Sparkman (0-1) took the loss for Kansas City.
When Dee Gordon homered off starter Jorge Lopez in the sixth, the Mariners set the major league record with a home run in each of their first 15 games, surpassing the 2002 Cleveland Indians. Their 36 home runs through 15 games are tied with the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals for the most in baseball history. They've scored at least five runs in 14 of 15 games.
For the second straight game, the Royals got home runs from Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler.
Dozier led off the second with a home run into the fountains in left center that traveled 411 feet.
In the third, Alex Gordon ripped a two-out double down the left-field line before Soler launched a 424-foot blast to right center.
The 3-0 lead was the largest lead for the Royals since they led 6-3 in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins on April 3. They lost that game 7-6.
Lopez cruised through his first five innings for the Royals, allowing just two baserunners on a single in the fourth and a walk in the fifth. He gave up two runs on three hits through six, but walked away with a no-decision.
Adalberto Mondesi pulled a 414-foot shot into the right-field bullpen leading off the bottom of the fifth to give the Royals a 4-0 lead.
Dee Gordon led off the sixth with his home run. Mallex Smith followed with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Haniger.
The Mariners trimmed the lead to one when Gordon tripled off the glove of center fielder Terrance Gore, scoring Ryon Healy who had doubled.
Erik Swanson pitched the seventh for the Mariners, making his major league debut. He allowed two runs on three hits. Alex Gordon and Soler had back-to-back one-out doubles, giving the Royals a two-run cushion. Dozier drove in Soler with a single, giving him the first three-hit game of his career.
The Mariners got a run in the eighth with three straight hits, but a 3-6-1 double play got the Royals out of the jam with no more damage.
--Field Level Media
Seattle | Kansas City | |
Mike Leake | Player | Jorge Lopez |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 6.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 5 |
5 | Hits | 3 |
7.20 | ERA | 3.00 |
Seattle | Kansas City | |
Dee Gordon | Player | Hunter Dozier |
3 | Hits | 3 |
2 | RBI | 2 |
1 | HR | 1 |
8 | TB | 7 |
.750 | Avg | .600 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Seattle | 12 | 2 | 26 | .300 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Kansas City | 8 | 3 | 21 | .200 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 |