KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tayler Saucedo worked a scoreless 10th inning for his first career save, handing the Mariners a tense 10-8 victory over the Royals on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Ty France deserves a save, too.
After Andres Munoz coughed up a three-run lead to one of the worst teams in baseball in the ninth, France drove in two runs with two outs in the top of the 10th to save the Mariners from what would have been their most humiliating loss of the season.
Asked to finish off a five-out save, Munoz couldn’t get the final out of the ninth, serving up singles to Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez as the Mariners blew an early 7-0 lead.
An error from second baseman Josh Rojas to open the ninth inning proved costly. None of the runs Munoz allowed in the ninth was earned.
It’s the second straight night the Mariners blew a save chance in the ninth, after Matt Brash was tagged for two runs in a loss to the Royals on Monday.
It’s the second time this season that the Mariners have blown a 7-0 lead. They also did it in a 14-9 loss April 11 at the Chicago Cubs.
Hernandez was a triple shy of the cycle, matching his career high with five hits, and France went 3 for 5 to continue his productive August.
For just the third time in franchise history, the Mariners hit four homers in an inning.
The last time it happened was May 2, 2022, when Bret Boone and Mike Cameron went back-to-back twice in the first inning at the Chicago White Sox. (Cameron homered four times that day.)
Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Paul Sorrento all homered in the third inning against Oakland at the Kingdome on Sept. 21, 1996.
Suarez ambushed the first pitch from Royals starter Jordan Lyles in the fourth inning for a 409-foot homer to left field. It was Suarez’s 17th homer of the season and team-leading 75th RBI, and it gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
Two pitches later, France belted one even farther in the same direction, his 10th of the season and third in the past 10 games. (He was robbed of another homer by Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins in the ninth inning Sunday.)
It was a 437-foot blast that ranks as France’s longest homer of the season and third-longest of his career. (He hit one 442 feet in 2021.)
After Lyles walked Cal Raleigh, Hernandez hit a 111.5-mph laser just over the wall in right-center, a two-run homer to make it 4-0. It was Hernandez’s 18th of the season.
Rojas hit his first homer for the Mariners since the trade from Arizona two weeks ago, and his first overall this season. It was a 380-foot no-doubter out to right field, extending the Mariners’ lead to 7-0.
Rookie right-hander Emerson Hancock, in his second MLB start, was solid through four scoreless innings.
He got in trouble in a bizarre fifth inning.
With one out and a runner on, Hancock got Matt Beaty to hit a soft popup to shallow right field. But a miscommunication between Rojas and Hernandez allowed the ball to drop (the official scorer credited Beaty with a single).
Kyle Isbel’s infield single loaded the bases with two outs, and Maikel Garcia singled to left field to drive in K.C.’s first run. On the play, Beaty rounded third base aggressively and quickly retreaded back to the base — but after he appeared to make contact with third-base coach Vance Wilson.
Mariners manager Scott Servais came out to question the play, and the umpires huddled to discuss it, but Beaty was allowed to stay at third base.
That kept the bases loaded for the Royals’ hottest hitter, Bobby Witt Jr., who belted Hancock’s 91-mph fastball 435 feet out to left-center for a grand slam.
That cut the Mariners’ lead to 7-5.
Hancock got the next batter, Michael Massey, to fly out to end the inning and end the rookie’s night.
Hancock’s line: 5 innings, 9 hits, 5 runs (5 earned runs), 0 walks, 1 strikeout.
Lyles, the Royals’ veteran right-hander, was tagged for seven runs (six earned) in five innings.
Hernandez added an insurance run in the seventh with a double off the base of the wall in left-center to score Suarez from first base, pushing Seattle’s lead to 8-5.
The Royals (39-82) brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the eighth inning, prompting Servais to call on Andres Munoz, his most trusted late-inning reliever, out of the bullpen.
Munoz got out of the jam by getting MJ Melendez to pop out and Freddy Fermin to ground out.
#cough #9thinning #lead #France #delivers #10th
