NewsRoyals let chances slip away vs. M's
Team goes 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position
By Rustin Dodd / MLB.com
08/05/09 1:15 AM ET
KANSAS CITY -- It was a familiar scene at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday.More coming up empty in the clutch, more bullpen trouble and -- well -- another loss.
The Royals fell to the Mariners, 7-6, in front of 15,057 fans, beginning their six-game homestand on a down note.
There was drama in the final moments, Kansas City loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth against Seattle cloesr David Aardsma. But the scoring threat was just a tease, ruined by a spectacular catch by Ichiro Suzuki.
Suzuki chased down a foul popup off the bat of John Buck, slid into the wall down the right-field line while making the catch and somehow, avoided the tarp in the process.
And like that, the Royals' 17th defeat in their past 21 games to be precise.
"It went down to the end," said Royals bench coach John Gibbons, who was filling in while manager Trey Hillman was at home in Texas tending to a personal matter. "Of course, your superstars like Ichiro, they come out with the big plays more often than not."
It was a back-and-forth battle, with both teams trading leads for the better part of six innings. And the Royals had their chances, taking a 3-1 lead after two innings, and rallying for a 5-4 lead after five frames.
But the early drama made what was to come all the more difficult to take.
Down, 5-4, the Mariners scratched out two runs against the Royals' bullpen in the sixth inning and added another in the seventh.
The relief woes began in the sixth, when John Bale replaced Hochevar, whose pitch count had climbed to 112.
Bale allowed two hits -- sandwiched around a walk to Ichiro -- and exited with the score tied at 5.
Jamey Wright entered and allowed another one of Bale's baserunners to score -- making it 6-5 -- before striking out Kenji Johjima with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Former Mariner Yuniesky Betancourt pulled the Royals even at 6 with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, but Seattle struck again with another run against Wright in the seventh.
The Mariners' tenacity negated five innings of work from Hochevar, who allowed four runs on seven hits while notching eight strikeouts. He settled for a no-decision.
"Five innings, you definitely need to go deeper into the game than that," said Hochevar, who was coming off a shaky outing against Baltimore in his previous start, in which he gave up seven runs in six innings against the Orioles. There was a recurring theme in both starts, Hochevar said.
"My pitch mix hasn't been very good," he said. "That's basically it."
The outcome also overshadowed a productive night from Betancourt, who was playing his first game against his former team. Acquired in a trade on July 10, Betancourt finished 2-for-4with a double, a triple and two clutch RBIs.
"It couldn't happen at a better time for a better kid against his old team," Gibbons said. "That happens a lot. You come up against your old teammates there, and I've seen many guys have big games that way. And hopefully that gets him going."
Betancourt's first extra-base hit came in the bottom of the fourth with the Royals trailing, 4-3. The Royals' new shortstop smoked a triple into the right-field gap, scoring Alex Gordon from first and tying the game at 4.
Betancourt then tagged up and scored on a shallow popup to right, showing off his speed and helping the Royals take a 5-4 advantage.
That would be the last Kansas City lead.
In a game with many lead changes, the Mariners' first advantage came quickly.
Suzuki led things off with a homer, clubbing Hochevar's second pitch of the game 378 feet down the right-field line and off the foul pole for a 1-0 lead.
"You gotta make your pitches to him," Hochevar said. "But that's why he's where he's at."
The Royals rallied for two runs in the bottom of the first, taking a 2-1 lead on an RBI double from Billy Butler and a sacrifice fly from Alberto Callaspo.
The Royals added another run in the second thanks to a gift from Seattle's defense. Miguel Olivo led off the inning with a single, then scored when third basemen Adrian Beltre threw a bunt attempt from Gordon into right field.
The Royals' 3-1 lead didn't last long. The Mariners got to Hochevar for three runs on four hits in the third, including two on a double by Jose Lopez that gave the Mariners a 4-3 lead.
"It was one of those games," Gibbons said. "You knew from the get-go."
And it wasn't settled until Suzuki made his game-clinching catch in the ninth.
"I thought when it was first hit that it didn't have a chance of staying in the ballpark," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said.
Rustin Dodd is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
