Royals overcome 8-run deficit to beat Mariners 10-9

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. tied it with a triple in the ninth inning and scored on Nelson Velázquez’s fielder’s choice to give the Kansas City Royals a 10-9 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night after they trailed 8-0 in the fourth.

After Maikel Garcia’s RBI grounder cut it to 9-8, Witt tripled into the corner in left.

“He’s a tremendous player,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He hit a pitch that probably was not even a strike. He does those things. He’s a really talented guy and he got us tonight.”

The Mariners intentionally walked the bases full and Velázquez followed with a grounder for the Royals’ third walk-off victory of the season.

“Just put the ball in play and something good can happen,” Velázquez said. “We stand together the whole game, no matter what. We still play hard for 27 outs.”

Kansas City had its largest comeback victory of the year and Seattle its largest blown lead.

“We’re never out of a game,” Witt said. “With this team we have, you’ve just got to do your part and the next guy’s going to do his part. That’s how resilient we are.”

Witt had three hits, extending his hitting streak to eight games.

Nick Anderson (3-1) struck out two in the ninth for the victory. Ryne Stanek (3-1) allowed two hits and walked three — two intentionally – in his second blown save.

Mitch Haniger’s bases-clearing double highlighted a seven-run first inning – the Mariners’ largest of the year — and Ryan Bliss hit his first career home run.

“It’s definitely a moment I’ll never forget,” Bliss said. “But baseball happened and we didn’t come out with the win.”

“Right out of the chute our offense did a lot of good things,” Servais said. “That’s about as good an inning we’ve had all year. You know that game is far from over, certainly against the Royals.”

Ty France had an RBI double in the fourth to make it 8-0.

Kansas City rallied in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four runs. MJ Melendez snapped an 0-for-14 slump with a three-run homer, his sixth. The Royals have an extra-base hit in all 64 games this year.

“I feel like we’re never really out of any game,” Melendez said. “Even though we got down early, we gave ourselves time to come back.”

Mitch Garver had a two-out RBI double in the sixth to push Seattle’s lead to 9-4. The Royals cut it to 9-7 in the bottom of the inning. Melendez had his fourth RBI of the night on a grounder, and Hunter Renfroe added a two-run single.

Seattle starter Bryce Miller left after allowing a leadoff hit and a pair of walks to load the bases in the sixth. He allowed seven runs – his most since June 4 last year – on six hits and three walks.

“That should have never been a game,” Miller said. “I can’t go out and load the bases with no outs. After we scored seven, I’ve got to do my part and I didn’t.”

Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV completed four innings, allowing eight runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.

UP NEXT

Mariners RHP Luis Castillo (5-6, 2.99 ERA) was set to face Royals RHP Alec Marsh (4-3, 3.76) on Saturday.

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ROYALS 10, MARINERS 9

E—Rojas (3), Garcia (8). LOB—Seattle 10, Kansas City 6. 2B_Haniger (8), Robles (1), France 2 (11), Moore (11), Garver (9). 3B—Witt (7). HR—Bliss (1), off Lynch; Melendez (6), off Miller. RBI—Garver 2 (21), Haniger 3 (27), Robles (1), Bliss 2 (2), France (27), Velázquez 2 (25), Melendez 4 (17), Renfroe 2 (24), Garcia (36), Witt (47).

Runners left in scoring position—Seattle 6 (Garver 3, Haniger 3); Kansas City 1 (Garcia). RISP—Seattle 5 for 15; Kansas City 4 for 10.

Runners moved up—Perez, Melendez, Garcia. GIDP—Moore, Garcia, Renfroe.

DP—Seattle 2 (Moore, Bliss, France; Crawford, Moore, France); Kansas City 1 (Witt, Loftin, Pasquantino).

Inherited runners-scored—Saucedo 3-3, Thornton 2-0. IBB—off Stanek (Pasquantino), off Stanek (Perez). HBP—Lynch 2 (Moore,France). WP—Miller.

Umpires—Home, Dan Bellino; First, Phil Cuzzi; Second, Tony Randazzo; Third, Alex Tosi.

T—2:57. A—25,178 (38,427).