SEATTLE — Marco Gonzales pitched a six-hitter for his first career complete game, Mitch Haniger and Mike Zunino homered, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 on Friday night.
Gonzales (8-5) struck out seven and didn’t issue a walk while throwing just 96 pitches. His previous career high was 7 1/3 innings pitched against Tampa Bay earlier this month.
Whit Merrifield singled to lead off the game and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rosell Herrera. Gonzales picked Merrifield off second base to erase the baserunner and would retire nine straight batters before running into a spot of trouble in the fourth.
Herrera doubled off the glove of left fielder Denard Span with one out. An infield single from Mike Moustakas put runners on the corners, but Gonzales induced an inning-ending double play from Salvador Perez to keep the Royals off the board.
Royals starter Ian Kennedy (1-8) retired the first 10 batters he faced before running into trouble in the fourth. Jean Segura reached on an infield single to give Seattle its first baserunner of the game. Haniger followed with a two-run blast over the center-field wall to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead.
After fouling off three straight pitches with a 2-2 count, Zunino blasted a solo home run two rows from the top of the upper deck in left field to extend the Mariners’ lead to 3-0 in the fifth. Segura added a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning off Brandon Maurer to give Seattle a 4-0 advantage.
Adalberto Mondesi doubled to open the ninth and Moustakas delivered a two-out single to center field to drive home the only run of the game for the Royals.
Bonifacio returns
Outfielder Jorge Bonifacio was recalled and back in the lineup for the Royals on Friday after completing an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Bonifacio was suspended in March after testing positive for Boldenone, which is an anabolic androgenic steroid. Bonifacio started the game in left field and went 0 for 3 with a strikeout. He hit .255 with 17 home runs and 40 RBIs in 113 games as a rookie in 2017. OF Ryan Goins was designated for assignment on Thursday to clear a roster spot. “It was a tough time down there in Arizona. But I learned from it. It’s never going to happen again,” Bonifacio said.
Trainer’s room
Royals: C Perez was back in the lineup after exiting Wednesday’s game in Milwaukee in the ninth inning after taking a foul ball off his right leg.
Mariners: 3B Kyle Seager was back in the lineup after making only a pinch-hit appearance in Baltimore on Sunday. Seager has an “avulsion fracture” in his big toe and was given the day off in the field to rest. It’s not expected to require a disabled list stint and Seager is planning to play through the injury.
Up next
Royals: RHP Jason Hammel (2-9) will make his 17th start of the season on Saturday. Hammel has lost four straight starts.
Mariners: RHP Felix Hernandez (7-6) will take the hill for the 18th time this season as he looks to continue a run of strong starts. After a rough first two months of the season, Hernandez has allowed just one earned run in three of his five starts in June.
