KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kendrys Morales hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
Morales hit his 18th home run to straightaway center on a 1-2 pitch from Aaron Crow (7-5) with Franklin Gutierrez, who had walked, aboard.
The Royals used eight pitchers, tying a club record for a nine-inning game.
Lucas Luetge (1-2) worked two perfect innings to earn the victory. Danny Farquhar worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 15 opportunities.
Taijuan Walker, who became the youngest Mariners starting pitcher (21 years, 17 days) to pick up a victory in his major league debut on Friday at Houston, struck out two in the first inning, his fastball touching 97 mph.
Walker, a 6-foot-5 right-hander who was also a basketball star in high school with a 21-point average, did not allow a hit over the first three innings, but yielded four runs, four hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly in the fourth to tie the score.
Jarrod Dyson’s two-out, two-run single made it 4-4. Salvador Perez’s sacrifice fly scored Eric Hosmer, who had singled for the first Kansas City hit. Billy Butler singled home Emilo Bonifacio, who led off the inning with a walk, for the first run.
Walker left after five innings and 79 pitches.
The Mariners, who had scored just four runs in losing their previous three games, scored four runs in the first four innings and chased Royals right-hander Ervin Santana.
Franklin Gutierrez’s single in the third scored Nick Franklin, who had doubled. Brad Miller’s sacrifice fly scored Mike Zunino with the first run.
The Mariners made it 4-0 in the third.
Franklin laced an RBI-single to center, while Dustin Ackley scored on a wild pitch by Wade Davis.
Santana failed to make it through the fourth, charged with four runs, seven hits and three walks in 3 1-3 innings, his briefest outing of the year.