SEATTLE — Domingo Santana hit two home runs in a game for the third time this season, Marco Gonzales won his third straight start and the Seattle Mariners avoided an embarrassing series sweep with an 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

Santana, who had five RBI, and Daniel Vogelbach hit back-to-back homers in the first inning to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead and they went on to snap Kansas City’s three-game winning streak. The Mariners had been outscored 15-4 by the Royals in the first two games of a series between last-place teams.

Seattle jumped on starter Brad Keller (3-9) immediately. Mallex Smith doubled to open the bottom of the first and J.P. Crawford walked before Santana hit his first home run of the day to left-center field. Vogelbach followed with his 18th of the season, off the Hit It Here Cafe in the second deck.

It was the eighth time this year the Mariners, second in the majors in homers, have gone back-to-back.

Seattle showed some of the small-ball potential of its new young lineup in the fourth after Dylan Moore singled to start the inning. Keller hit Smith with a pitch, then gave up run-scoring singles to Crawford and Santana before Vogelbach’s sacrifice fly made it 7-1.

Keller didn’t return for the fifth after giving up nine hits and throwing 97 pitches.

Santana added a solo home run, his 15th of the season, in the sixth and finished with three hits. The top three batters in the order — Smith, Crawford and Santana — each scored two runs.

Gonzales (8-6) scattered six hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out five. It was his third straight victory after going 0-6 in his previous seven outings.

HERNANDEZ RESULTS

An MRI showed nothing out of the ordinary in RHP Felix Hernandez’s injured shoulder, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. The 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner is expected to begin working out again soon. Servais said Hernandez could pick up a ball in a few days for light tossing. Hernandez left a minor league appearance Friday night after experiencing fatigue in his shoulder and strained lat. He’ll throw bullpens before making another minor league start.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: SS Adalberto Mondesi was out of the lineup with tightness in his right groin. He’s day to day.

Mariners: RHP Sam Tuivailala threw 30 pitches Tuesday in his first bullpen since taking a step back in his return from Achilles tendon surgery. The reliever said he didn’t feel any of the muscle tightness in his arm that sidetracked his return last month. Tuivailala will report to Class A Everett where he will work out of the bullpen for three or more games until he earns a move to Triple-A Tacoma, Servais said.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Glenn Sparkman (1-3, 4.01 ERA) will face the Twins on Thursday night for the second time this week after giving up five runs and five hits in five innings of a loss last Saturday.

Mariners: Servais said he will likely use an opener Thursday and then turn to Wade LeBlanc (3-2, 6.20 ERA) in the series opener against Baltimore.

— Associated Press —

SEATTLE — Whit Merrifield had two homers and a career-high six RBI, Homer Bailey pitched into the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners 9-0 on Tuesday night.

The Royals jumped on struggling starter Yusei Kikuchi to get their third straight win. Kikuchi (3-5) allowed six runs in five innings.

Merrifield drove a three-run homer against Kikuchi in the fourth and added a two-run shot against Jesse Biddle in the eighth. Jorge Soler also homered for the Royals, and rookie Nicky Lopez had three hits.

Bailey (6-6) was crisp and efficient, allowing just one runner past second base with six strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings. He stranded two baserunners in each of the first three innings, then retired 14 of the next 15 batters.

Alex Gordon opened the scoring with a two-run single — the Royals’ third straight hit to start the game — for a 2-0 lead. Soler pushed it to 3-0 with his 20th homer in the third and Merrifield made it 6-0 with his shot. Merrifield also had a sacrifice fly.

Kikuchi has had an unsettling June after a fairly positive start to his major league career. He’s now 0-4 since May 25 and has allowed eight home runs during that stretch.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Adalberto Mondesi left the game with right groin tightness. Team officials said he’s day-to-day.

Mariners: Felix Hernandez was scheduled Tuesday to have an MRI on his right shoulder. The right-hander left his rehab assignment at Triple-A Tacoma on Friday due to fatigue and was scheduled for the scan of his right lat and the back of his shoulder after a visit with doctors Monday. Seattle manager Scott Servais said the development is not good news for the 33-year-old, who has been out since May 12. “It’s concerning enough to take new images of that (injured area) and not guess,” Servais said.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Brad Keller (3-8, 3.97 ERA) tries to stop a run of seven losses in eight appearances since April 22.

Mariners: LHP Marco Gonzales (7-6, 4.50 ERA) is looking for his third straight win since stopping a six-game losing streak.

— Associated Press —

SEATTLE — It might be because he’s never received enough of a chance, but until this year, Jorge Soler has never been lumped in with the game’s top power hitters.

Maybe it’s time to add him to the list.

Soler hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning off Anthony Bass, and the Kansas City Royals rallied for a 6-4 win over Seattle on Monday night, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Mariners.

Soler’s homer was his 19th of the season, tying him with Mike Moustakas and Jermaine Dye for the most home runs in the first 72 games of a season in Royals’ history. He’s one of three hitters in the AL with 19 homers, two behind Edwin Encarnacion and his AL-best 21 long balls.

“He’s been swinging the bat well for us all year. The power numbers are really good,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.

After the Royals were shut down for most of the night by Tommy Milone, the combo of Alex Gordon and Soler put Kansas City in front. Bass (1-2) easily retired the first two batters of the inning before Gordon singled up the middle. Soler followed by driving a 1-1 pitch on the outside corner out to deep right-center field.

“(I’ve) been seeing a lot of offspeed pitches lately and was trying not to fly open and go the other way and did,” Soler said through an interpreter.

Martin Maldonado added a solo home run in the ninth.

Brian Flynn (1-0) got the victory by working two innings of relief after Danny Duffy and striking out four. Jake Diekman got the final two outs of the eighth with the tying run at second base, but Ian Kennedy faced trouble in the ninth. He allowed the first two batters to reach before striking out J.P. Crawford and Domingo Santana, then got a pop out by Tim Beckham to finish his eighth save.

Flynn pitched for the first time since June 6.

“In that role, that’s kind of how it goes,” Flynn said. “When our starters get on a roll like they are, it’s good for the team. You’re not going to be the guy down there complaining about lack of innings when you’re the long guy because that usually means the starters are cruising.”

Seattle took a 4-2 lead in the fifth on a three-run homer from Tom Murphy, but Kansas City was able to add a key run in the seventh inning. Jorge Bonifacio doubled leading off to end Milone’s streak of 11 straight retired and scored when Maldonado’s sinking liner was caught on a dive by Mac Williamson in left field. Williamson had no play at the plate.

Duffy was rolling until the fifth, when he walked two to bring up Murphy with two outs. Murphy was moved up to fifth in Seattle’s batting order for the first time this season, and the decision paid off with his eighth home run in his 28th game.

“He’s like a totally different hitter right now than when we first acquired him and that’s a credit to him for being open to making adjustments,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.

Duffy allowed seven hits and struck out four.

OPENING ACT

For the third straight start Seattle used an opener before letting Milone take over and the results continued to be mixed. The Mariners’ openers have struggled — this time Tayler Scott, who allowed two runs and recorded two outs — but Milone has thrived. Milone threw 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits. He struck out six and walked none.

In his three appearances where Seattle has used an opener, Milone has pitched 17 2/3 innings and allowed five earned runs.

“It’s nice to get on a little roll like this, the confidence goes up and being able to throw quality strikes is the biggest thing,” Milone said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 3B Hunter Dozier began a rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Monday. Dozier leads the Royals with a .314 batting average but has been out since injuring his right oblique May 30. Dozier went 1 for 4 and drove in two.

Mariners: Servais had a long list of injury updates. Most notable, OF Mitch Haniger (ruptured testicle) is expected to resume light activity this week, even if he’s still a few weeks from being ready. RHP Hunter Strickland (lat strain) was expected to resume playing catch in the next couple of days after having a setback in his rehab. RHP Chasen Bradford (forearm) is also expected to start throwing in the next few days.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Homer Bailey (5-6) snapped a five-start winless skid throwing six scoreless innings against Detroit in his last start. Allowed season-high seven earned runs to Seattle in April.

Mariners: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (3-4) looks to pitch beyond the fifth inning for the first time in his past four starts. Kikuchi hasn’t pitched into the sixth since May 19, also his last win.

— Associated Press —