*Photo from the Seattle Times*
When the Seattle Mariners needed a clutch hit, their longest tenured player and one of their hottest bats came through. Jarred Kelenic homered, Kyle Seager hit the go ahead home run, and the Mariners defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.
The home run by Seager, which came in the 7th inning, was his 31st of the season, which is a new career high for homers in a season by Seager. He's also been on fire since the all star break. Since the Mariners played their first game post all star break, Seager has hit 15 home runs and has 35 RBI. His 15 home runs are 3rd best in MLB for the same time span, trailing Joey Votto and opponent Salvador Perez, who each have 17. His 35 RBI are tied for the 7th most in baseball with Jose Abreu.
Seager said "It's definitely special. It's always nice to have a career high in hitting, so that's a positive. That's been part of my job. That's something I've kind of prided myself on, to play defense and try to do the damage-type stuff, knock in runs."
In the first inning, the Mariners jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Seager scored on a single by Ty France. It stayed 1-0 until the top of the 6th, when Perez homered for the Royals to tie it 1-1. In the bottom of the 6th, Kelenic quickly made it 2-1 Mariners with a solo home run to center field.
In the 7th, Michael A Taylor homered for the Royals to tie it 2-2, but Seager hit his two run home run in the bottom half to give Seattle a 4-2 lead. Perez hit an RBI single in the 8th to get the Royals to a 4-3 deficit, but they could get no more.
Mariners starter Marco Gonzales said of his lineup in front of him that "For those guys to come through, it's huge. And who else but Kyle Seager, right? To come in late and put us ahead, it's just awesome to see, man. I love playing with Seager and I just can't say enough good things about him."
Gonzales did get the win because of Seager's go ahead homer, improving to 6-5 on the season. He allowed two runs on 5 hits and two walks, striking out 4 hitters in 7 innings pitched. Paul Sewald came in and got a hold despite giving up a run in the 8th, and Drew Steckenrider got his 7th save of the season with a shutout 9th inning.
For Perez of the Royals, despite the loss, he continued to stay hot with the bat thanks to his 6th inning homer. The homer meant Perez has now homered in 5 consecutive games, which ties a Royals franchise record set by Mike Sweeney in 2002. If he can homer in the Royals next game, he will have the record all to himself.
Perez said of tying the record that "That's awesome. I feel great. I’m so excited with what’s going on right now. I always say I love to compete, and we never want to quit, and I thank God for everything. I feel really good at the plate right now."
Meanwhile, it was Tyler Zuber who took the loss for the Royals, falling to 0-3 so far this season. Zuber allowed the two run homer to Seager in the 7th, ruining his inning of relief. It also ruined what was a quality start for Brady Singer, who allowed two runs on 3 hits and 3 walks, striking out 5 hitters over 6 innings pitched. Josh Staumont came on after Zuber and threw a shutout 8th inning.
The Mariners welcome the Houston Astros to town on Monday night, with Chris Flexen getting the start for the first game of the series for the Mariners. The Royals play host to the Cleveland Indians on Monday, with no announced starter.
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