Royals rally to extend streak to six
10:19 p.m. Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Royals 5, Mariners 2
That's six straight.
The Royals matched their season-best streak on Wednesday night, defeating the Seattle Mariners, 5-2, at Kauffman Stadium. The sixth straight win came as Jose Guillen delivered the game-winning hit and Gil Meche notched his 12 victory.
Ryan Shealy belted his sixth home run in just 10 games since being recalled from Triple-A Omaha. This blast soared so high into the left-field bullpen that the estimated 389 feet must have meant height, not length.
The solo shot came off left-hander Ryan Rowland- Smith who had been pitching like Lefty Grove-Carlton, mowing down batters with precision.
The Mariners jumped Royals right-hander Gil Meche for two runs in the first inning. Ichiro Suzuki walked, Yuniesky Betancourt singled and they executed a double steal. Worked perfectly -- Jose Lopez lashed a single to left and both scored.
Rowland-Smith worked six innings, leaving a 2-1 lead in the hands of the bullpen.
Reliever Roy Corcoran immediately ran into trouble. John Buck singled and Betancourt botched Alberto Callaspo's grounder to short. Esteban German dropped a sacrifice bunt and David DeJesus was intentionally walked to load the bases. Mike Aviles's tap brought Corcoran off the mound enough to allow Buck to score the tying run.
Miguel Batista replaced Corcoran and Guillen, feeling healthy, rapped a single into center field for two runs and a 4-2 lead.
In the eighth, Ichiro Suzuki beat out an infield bouncer for his 200th hit, tying a Major League record. This is his eighth straight season of 200 or more hits for the Mariners, tying Willie Keeler's record set for Brooklyn in 1894-1901.
Ichiro beat a peg by Aviles, the shortstop, and got an ovation from the crowd of 13,382. After an out, Raul Ibanez also singled off lefty reliever Ron Mahay and righty Ramon Ramirez was summoned. He got Lopez to rap into a double play, ending the threat.
The Mariners lost their seventh straight game.
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