Royals 4, Mariners 1
SEATTLE -- Kansas City veteran Joe Blanton won his second consecutive start, holding the Seattle Mariners to two hits over six-plus innings in the Royals' 4-1 victory Monday.
Blanton (2-0) gave up a two-out home run to Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano in the first inning before retiring 16 consecutive batters through the sixth. After Mariners center fielder Austin Jackson led off the seventh with a double, Blanton's 80-pitch night ended.
The right-hander allowed one run and no walks while striking out seven. Before his two-start winning streak, Blanton went 19 outings in a row without a win.
The Royals (40-27) pounded out 10 hits, nine of which came against Seattle starter Felix Hernandez.
Hernandez (10-4) allowed more than three earned runs for only the fourth time this season. He gave up four runs while striking out five and walking one over 6 2/3 innings.
Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Third baseman Mike Moustakas, right fielder Alex Rios and second baseman Omar Infante also drove in runs for the Royals.
Blanton, 34, sat out most of 2014 and began this season at Triple-A Omaha before being called up to serve as a long reliever in the Kansas City bullpen. Injuries to Jason Vargas and Yordano Ventura forced the Royals to give Blanton a start last week, and he allowed only one run over five innings to earn his first victory since June 29, 2013. He was even better Monday night, when he dominated Seattle for six innings before relievers Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland finished off the win.
Holland pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 14th save of the season.
Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano hit his first home run of June, a first-inning solo shot that gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead, but the Royals were quick to respond. Back-to-back RBI singles from Rios and Infante in the top of the second put Kansas City ahead 2-1.
Moustakas added an RBI double off the wall in the third inning for a 3-1 lead.
Mariners right fielder Nelson Cruz left the game in the seventh inning due to right hamstring tightness.
NOTES: Royals DH Kendrys Morales spent parts of the past two seasons with the Mariners. Morales and Seattle's Nelson Cruz are the American League's top two DH vote-getters for the All-Star Game. ... Kansas City's Eric Hosmer is no longer leading AL first basemen in All-Star balloting. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera passed him this week and now leads by 1.38 million votes. Seven other Kansas City position players lead their positions. ... RHP Joe Blanton, the 34-year-old Royals starter, has more than twice as many starts (250) as the three Houston Astros starters Seattle faced last weekend. (LHP Dallas Keuchel and rookie RHPs Lance McCullers and Vincent Velasquez have 92). ... Seattle RHP Felix Hernandez was the only 10-game winner in the American League through the weekend. Hernandez faced the Royals for the first time since 2013.