KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ It wasn't the home run that extended the meaningless streak. It was the home run that extended the meaningful streak _ the winning streak.
Daniel Vogelbach smoked a 95-mph fastball from Kansas City's Glenn Sparkman in the 10th inning, sending a laser of a line drive over the wall in deep right-center for the winning homer in the Mariners' 7-6 victory against the Royals. Seattle has now won six games in a row and is 13-2 on the season.
With his unusual body frame that's part fire hydrant and part beer keg and a unique, powerful swing to fit his build, Vogelbach already has reached cult hero status despite never previously being a significant presence in Major League Baseball. And given an extended chance with the Mariners for the first time in his career, he's moved past potential and into production.
Oh, and that other streak. Well, it continued and gave the Mariners a small piece of MLB history. Down 4-0 after five innings, Dee Gordon led off the top of the sixth with a solo homer to right field. Home runs aren't typical for Gordon, who came in with 15 career homers in 865 MLB games. Gordon's rare round-tripper gave the Mariners a home run in all 15 games to start the season. That streak eclipsed the MLB record of 14 straight games previously held by the 2002 Cleveland Indians. Seattle has 35 homers on the season, which is the most in the American League.
With the score 6-4 in the ninth inning, Mitch Haniger sent Thursday's game into extra innings with a two-out, two-run triple off Royals closer Brad Boxberger.
Mariners reliever Connor Sadzeck picked up his first career save, while Brandon Brennan got his first career win in relief.
With the help of home plate umpire Marvin Hudson's somewhat interpretive strike zone, Royals starter Jorge Lopez did something that only one other starting pitcher has accomplished against the Mariners this season _ pitch six complete innings.
The grind-it-out approach the Mariners have used just never got going against Lopez, who pitched six innings, giving up two runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts. With the help of some solid defense, including a play of his own, Lopez retired the first 11 Mariners he faced before Domingo Santana notched Seattle's first hit with two outs in the fourth inning.
Meanwhile, the Royals looked more like the homer-happy team, bashing three of them off Mariners starter Mike Leake. Hunter Dozier notched their first with a solo blast in the second inning while Jorge Soler, who has worn out Mariners pitching, blasted a two-run homer to left in the third inning to make it 3-0. Adalberto Mondesi made it 4-0 with a solo shot in the fifth inning. The three homers allowed tied a career high for Leake.
After being shut out for five innings, Seattle broke through with Gordon's homer. Mallex Smith followed with a triple to left. He scored on Haniger's sac fly to make it 4-2. An inning later, Gordon tripled home Ryon Healy to make it 4-3.
The Mariners bullpen couldn't keep the deficit to one run. Rookie Erik Swanson, who was making his MLB debut, gave up two runs in the seventh inning while getting minimal help from the Mariners' suspect defense.
Seattle trimmed the lead to 6-4 in the eighth on an RBI single from Edwin Encarnacion. Seattle seemed poised for more runs, but Tim Beckham hit into a rare 3-6-1 double play to end the inning.
