Home runs by Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield provided the bulk of the offense for the Kansas City Royals, and the pitching staff decided to go for the degree-of-difficulty points by stranding 13 runners on base while giving up only one run.
With that, the Royals locked up a series victory in the Pacific Northwest as they defeated the Seattle Mariners, 4-2, in front of an announced 24,575 in the third game of their four-game set at T-Mobile Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Royals (59-70) also put themselves in position to finish their 10-game road trip with a four-game sweep with a win on Sunday.
Perez's 37th home run of the season moved him out of tie with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the second-most in the majors. Perez has now homered in four consecutive games, including grand slams in back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday.
Perez went 1 for 3 with a walk and a two-run homer on Saturday.
Merrifield started the day already having had a torrid road trip, and he only added to it. Through the first eight games of the 10-game swing, Merrifield batted .389 with nine runs scored, four doubles, a triple, a grand slam, nine RBIs, and three stolen bases.
So of course, Merrifield started the day off with a solo homer — his 10th of the season. It also pushed him past Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon and Amos Otis as the lone player in franchise history with three seasons of at least 10 home runs and 30 stolen bases.
Merrifield went 2 for 5 on Saturday.
Royals starting pitcher Daniel Lynch weaved into and out of traffic yet somehow managed to avoid that big multi-car pileup.
The Mariners succeeded in putting men on base every inning against the rookie left-hander, but they couldn't capitalize nearly to the extent they needed to overcome the momentum generated by the Royals' homers.
Lynch stranded seven men on base in the first four innings. While he dealt with a quickly-rising pitch count that kept him from getting deep into the contest, Lynch held the Mariners to one run — which scored after he exited — on seven hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.
The Mariners (69-61) scored their lone run in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk by relief pitcher Domingo Tapia. The runner who scored had reached against Lynch. The Royals were ahead 3-0 at the time thanks to Perez's two-run homer in the top half of the fifth.
Emmanuel Rivera's ninth-inning double and an RBI single from backup catcher Cam Gallagher accounted for the only other run for the Royals.
Two-out doubles by Mitch Haniger and Luis Torrens gave the Mariners a run in the bottom of the ninth, but they couldn't complete a last-minute rally attempt.
The series wraps up on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m CT. The pitching matchup will feature Royals right-hander Brady Singer (3-9, 5.07) against Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales (5-5, 4.13).
