KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. tied it with a two-run triple in the ninth inning and scored on Nelson Velázquez’s fielder’s choice to give the Kansas City Royals a 10-9 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night after they trailed 8-0 in the fourth.
After Maikel Garcia’s RBI grounder cut it to 9-7, Witt tripled into the corner in left. Velázquez followed with a grounder for the Royals’ third walk-off victory of the season. Kansas City had its largest comeback victory of the year and Seattle its largest blown lead.
Witt had three hits, extending his hitting streak to eight games.
Nick Anderson (3-1) struck out two in the ninth for the victory. Ryne Stanek (3-1) allowed two hits and walked three — two intentionally – in his second blown save.
Mitch Haniger’s bases-clearing double highlighted a seven-run first inning – the Mariners’ largest of the year — and Ryan Bliss hit his first career home run. Ty France had an RBI double in fourth to make it 8-0.
Kansas City rallied in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four runs. MJ Melendez snapped an 0-for-14 slump with a three-run homer, his sixth. The Royals have an extra-base hit in all 64 games this year.
Mitch Garver had a two-out RBI double in the sixth to push Seattle’s lead to 9-4. The Royals cut it to 9-7 in the bottom of the inning. Melendez had a his fourth RBI of the night on a grounder, and Hunter Renfroe added a two-run single
Seattle starter Bryce Miller left after allowing a leadoff hit and a pair of walks to load the bases in the sixth. He allowed seven runs – his most since June 4 last year – on six hits and three walks with one strikeout.
Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV completed four innings, allowing eight runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
UP NEXT
Mariners RHP Luis Castillo (5-6, 2.99 ERA) was set to face Royals RHP Alec Marsh (4-3, 3.76) on Saturday.
