6/30/25

(Seattle, WA) Finally, after a very long ten-game road trip, the Seattle Mariners returned home to the Pacific Northwest to begin a seven-game homestand. In what will be there final seven games at T-Mobile Park until after the All-Star Break, the M’s would look to continue to build momentum after a pretty successful trip where they went 6-4. Seattle has not been great at home this season, but with a couple of weaker opponents on the slate, things could shape up to be a very exciting homestand.

First up, a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals. While the Royals have been a thorn in the side of the Mariners for years now, that trouble has mostly come at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. In T-Mobile Park in the 2020s, the Mariners are actually 9-4 against the Royals and have won pretty comfortably in those series. Add that into the struggles the Royals have had offensively this season, and Seattle had a chance to continue their recent success against Central teams.

In the opener of the series, George Kirby would get the ball for the M’s looking to start the homestand on a high note. For Kansas City, veteran Michael Wacha would take the ball in the midst of a very strong season. Wacha entered Monday night only allowing 4 or more runs in three starts so far this season.

Mariners 6, Royals 2 (Game One)

Neither team could get a man into scoring position in the first couple of innings. George Kirby retired the first eight batters that he faced to begin his day before a two-out single by Kyle Isbel gave the Royals their first baserunner in the top of the 3rd. Jonathan India kept the line moving with his own single out to center to put two on for the dangerous Bobby Witt Jr. While Kirby was able to keep him in the yard, a third consecutive two-out hit would put the Royals on the board. Witt singled to center and brought home Isbel to make it 1-0 Kansas City.

Seattle struggled to get much going the first couple of times through the order against Michael Wacha. The veteran kept hitters off-balance and attacked the strike zone in his pitch to contact approach. The one big blemish he did have the first two times through the order came in the bottom of the 4th. Randy Arozarena came to the plate with the bases empty and two outs and provided some two-out thump for Seattle. Arozarena jumped on the first pitch in the middle of the plate and drove it out to right center for a solo shot and his ninth of the season. It would also by Arozarena’s 100th career home run and it evened the score up at 1-1.

Seattle’s bases loaded threat with two outs didn’t produce any runs after the Arozarena homer in the 4th, but they would put together a better threat in the 5th. Cole Young picked up a base hit to leadoff the inning before J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez followed in his footsteps to load the bases with nobody out for the middle of the order. Cal Raleigh had to be pitched to but he would settle for just a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Young and give the M’s a 2-1 lead. In stepped Randy Arozarena and he had to work this time around. After missing a 2-1 pitch in the middle of the plate, the left fielder got a fastball at the top of the zone and drove it out to center, once again leaving the yard. This time it was a three-run blast and Arozarena’s 10th of the season and second of the game. His 101st career homer opened things up as well, giving the Mariners a 5-1 lead.

George Kirby was terrific on Monday night and while the strikeouts weren’t necessarily high, he did not give up many hits and of course didn’t allow a walk. While he still tries to get his whole repertoire working, Kirby is learning how to pitch without all of his tools. With the splitter still not there, Kirby has leaned on his fastball and used the slider a lot against the right-handed heavy lineup just like he did in Anaheim. A lot of soft contact helped Kirby get through six innings of three-hit, one-run ball with no walks and five strikeouts to set the tone for the homestand.

Gabe Speier kept things rolling with a quick 1-2-3 7th inning and Daniel Lynch IV stayed on for the Royals after the 7th inning stretch. The first man he would face in his second inning of work would be Cal Raleigh. While the Mariners continue to plea for votes to make Cal Raleigh the starting catcher for the AL in the All-Star Game, Raleigh continues to show why he is the right choice for that honor. The Big Dumper would chase a knuckle curve off the plate but powered it out to center. It just had enough to get out for Raleigh’s MLB-leading 33rd home run of the season. The blast gave the M’s a bit more breathing room as they extended the lead to 6-1.

Trent Thornton would pitch the 8th as Dan Wilson looked to avoid using any of his high-leverage arms on Monday. After getting Drew Waters to fly out, Thornton would get in a bit of trouble after a single by John Rave and a walk to Kyle Isbel. The top of the order came to the plate and Jonathan India would get hit by a pitch to load the bases for Bobby Witt Jr. Things began to escalate, but Witt would ground into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, beating out the double play and bringing home a run. Thornton would then get Maikel Garcia to hit a grounder to Young at second to get out of trouble with the Seattle lead still 6-2.

Unfortunately, Dan Wilson would have to use a high-leverage arm and brought in Matt Brash to pitch the 9th with a four-run lead. It would be smooth sailing for Brash as he needed just 11 pitches to retire Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez, and Jac Caglianone in order to seal the deal. After a weekend of stressful extra-inning baseball, the Mariners began the homestand with a nice and clean 6-2 win over the Royals.

Notable Performances

Royals

Mariners

• Randy Arozarena- 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
• Cal Raleigh- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• George Kirby (W, 2-4)- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

What’s Next

With a light schedule in baseball on Monday night, the Seattle Mariners (44-40) did make up a tiny bit of ground in the AL West. Both Houston and Los Angeles were off on Monday while Texas lost in extra innings to Baltimore and the Athletics beat Tampa Bay 6-4. Houston now leads Seattle by six games in the AL West while the Angels are 8 1/2 back and the Rangers 9 1/2. The Athletics are still 16 1/2 behind the Astros. The Mariners do now lead the Angels by 2 1/2 games for the final American League Wild Card spot.

Game two between Seattle and Kansas City will take place on Tuesday night at 6:40pm as the M’s look to take the first two while the Royals hope to even up the series. In the second game, the Royals will turn to Michael Lorenzen (4-8, 4.91 ERA) who they hope will come up with a quality start. Lorenzen had a really good April but has struggled since then. Home runs have been the issue for him as he has allowed six home runs each in May and June. For Seattle, Emerson Hancock (3-4, 5.30 ERA) will try to start July on a high note. Hancock was great in June outside of a tough outing at Wrigley Field. While he allowed nine runs in that outing, Hancock only allowed five runs in his other 22 2/3 innings last month.

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