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 —

MINNEAPOLIS — Martin Maldonado found a formal-yet-fun way to honor the dads in his life.

The Royals catcher celebrated Father’s Day by wearing a blue necktie on his chest protector and had three hits to lift Kansas City over the Minnesota Twins 8-6 Sunday.

Maldonado scribbled the names of his dad, brother, family and close friends on the tie, along with “Happy Father’s Day” at the bottom. Pittsburgh Pirates backstop Elias Diaz wore the same tie in a game against Atlanta, which was provided by equipment manufacturer All-Star.

“Just wanted to do something different for the fathers out there, family members, friends,” Maldonado said. “Something to wear for them.”

Maldonado was all business at the plate. He drove in two runs, one with a single during a three-run second inning and another with a double in the eighth.

Jorge Lopez (1-6) pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief, giving up four hits, including a solo homer by Nelson Cruz in the seventh.

Ian Kennedy allowed an RBI double by Max Kepler but struck out Cruz with two runners on to record his seventh save in nine chances. Cruz believed he had checked his swing on the strikeout.

“The check swing calls are, honestly, some of the more difficult calls you’re going to see in the game,” Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Obviously, we didn’t like the call, but I find them challenging. It was probably close but something we would prefer to go our way based on everything we saw. But it happens.”

Jorge Bonifacio added two hits and two RBI for the Royals, who had lost three of four. Kansas City was tied or leading in the eighth inning in three of the previous four matchups against the Twins this season but had lost all four games before hanging on Sunday.

“We’ve been right there in every game with them, a hit away really,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Finally, to get over little bit of a hump and get a win with them, especially on getaway day was good.”

Martin Perez (7-3) surrendered five runs — four earned — in 6 2/3 innings for Minnesota. Kepler had four hits and Miguel Sano homered, but the Twins left the bases loaded three times and were 4 of 18 with runners in scoring position.

Cruz had a two-run double in the eighth, but Wily Peralta entered and retired three in a row to strand two runners.

“The biggest thing is that we’re in first place,” Sano said. “We can lose one game if we’re going to win five, seven games. This is the best team I’ve seen in my life, and we don’t have any pressure about anything. We’re really good.”

UNLIKELY MISTAKES

The Twins committed two errors on Sunday and have 10 during the first six games of their nine-game homestand. They had 32 errors heading into homestand.

“Nothing really came easy today,” Baldelli said. “It was not our sharpest effort. If you look at each one of those plays, they’re plays we want to make and we have to make going forward but they’re not the easiest of plays.”

TWINS TERRITORY

Minnesota had its third straight sellout, the first time it’s sold out three straight home games since 2011 when it had six in a row.

The weekend included Joe Mauer’s number retirement ceremony on Saturday and drew a total of 117,051 fans. It’s the most for a three-game series in Minnesota since it had 117,156 in 2015 with the Chicago Cubs in town.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 3B Hunter Dozier (right oblique strain) will start a rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Monday. Yost said Dozier would start at Double-A and then leave with his wife expecting a baby later this week. He would return to his rehab at Triple-A Omaha next weekend.

Twins: OF Byron Buxton was out of the lineup for the second straight day after being hit in the wrist by a pitch Friday night. Baldelli said Buxton was available and that the team was being cautious. Baldelli said before the game that he wasn’t sure if Buxton would be swinging a bat at all Sunday.

UP NEXT

Royals: The road trip continues as LHP Danny Duffy (3-3, 4.38 ERA) starts a three-game series Monday in Seattle. Duffy is coming off his longest outing of the season when he went seven innings with a season-high seven strikeouts in a no-decision against Detroit.

Twins: RHP Jose Berrios (8-2, 3.01) starts on Monday as Minnesota begins a three-game series against Boston. Berrios has allowed one earned run in three of his past four starts. The Red Sox will start RHP Rick Porcello (4-6, 4.69).

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS — Jake Odorizzi and the Minnesota Twins faced an immediate deficit and trailed by three runs more than halfway through the game.

The way this team has been hitting, though, the rally sure seemed inevitable.

C.J. Cron drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning double , making Odorizzi the second 10-game winner in the majors this season and capping a 5-4 comeback victory by the Twins over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

“Keep us within striking distance, and we’ll be able to, hopefully, come back more times than not,” said Odorizzi (10-2), who fell behind when Jorge Soler smashed a first-pitch fastball 462 feet into the second deck for a two-run homer in the first . Then, Whit Merrifield’s solo shot started a two-run fifth inning that ended with a 4-1 lead for the Royals.

With the Twins (47-22), who have the best record in the majors, such winning offensive performances have become a belief, not a hope. They have the most homers in baseball, on pace to break the all-time season record, not to mention the lead in several other batting categories.

With a solo drive by Max Kepler in the fourth and a two-run smash from Marwin Gonzalez in the fifth, they surged back against Royals starter Glenn Sparkman (1-3). Five batters later, Jorge Polanco tied the game with a double that finished a rally fueled by a fielding error on third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert.

Eddie Rosario drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, bringing reliever Scott Barlow into the game. Gonzalez singled, Cron doubled and the Twins were on their way to their 22nd win in their last 29 games.

“We deal with whatever comes our way pretty well,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

With four runs allowed, Odorizzi, who is one of a half-dozen or so strong Twins candidates for the All-Star game next month, surrendered as many in this start as he had in his previous eight turns.

Merrifield, his teammate in 2011 with the Class A Wilmington Blue Rocks, had three of his four hits against his old friend. The 29-year-old right-hander, who made his major league debut with the Royals in 2012, saw his ERA rise from 1.92 to 2.24. Still, Odorizzi finished six innings for the third straight start and kept the Twins close enough when the game could’ve gotten out of hand.

The Twins played in front of their fifth sellout crowd of the season, thanks to the pregame ceremony for Joe Mauer’s uniform retirement . Despite the off night for Odorizzi and three errors in the field, they had enough to ensure the fans went home happy on a memorable evening.

“I don’t think we were meant to lose on Joe Mauer day,” said Odorizzi, who recorded the Mauer ceremony so he could watch and appreciate it later. “So I think that win was for Joe.”

The Royals, who left nine men on and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, had the bases loaded with one out in the third but didn’t score. The leadoff man took second base to start the eighth inning but was stranded. Then in the ninth, the Royals had runners at first and second, but Soler flied out to shallow center field to end the game and give Taylor Rogers his eighth save in 10 attempts.

“Just didn’t quite get to their bullpen like we would’ve liked to,” Merrifield said.

GOING GONZO

Gonzalez made the defensive play of the game in right field with a diving grab of speedster Billy Hamilton’s line drive to start the ninth, aggressively pursuing the catch with the risk of a triple or inside-the-park home run if the ball were to elude him.

“He had him played perfectly and made a great play,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Billy just smoked that ball.”

Said Rogers: “I was thinking that whoever put Marwin in that position was a genius. Because he was obviously playing in and kind of over.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 1B Lucas Duda remained hitless in two games since returning from a back injury that sidelined him for nearly two months, but his sacrifice fly in the fifth was his first RBI since April 16.

Twins: CF Byron Buxton was held out of the lineup with a bruised right wrist after being hit by a pitch the night before. Baldelli said Buxton was available to pinch run or play defense, but he was unsure yet when he could swing a bat at full strength.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (4-6, 5.35 ERA) takes the mound for the series finale.

Twins: LHP Martin Perez (7-2, 3.97 ERA) pitches on Sunday afternoon.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS — Mitch Garver’s two-run homer in the eighth inning snapped a scoreless tie, and Kyle Gibson gave up two hits in eight innings in the Minnesota Twins’ 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Garver’s 11th home run of the season was deep to the berm in center field off Kansas City reliever Jake Diekman (0-4) after Max Kepler had walked. Minnesota has won 16 of its past 22 games and started a big weekend at Target Field with three expected sellouts and Joe Mauer’s number retirement ceremony on Saturday.

Gibson (7-3) struck out six in his longest outing of the season. Taylor Rogers secured his seventh save in nine chances.

Kepler reached base three times but the Twins’ No. 1 offense was stifled by Royals starter Brad Keller. Keller matched Gibson along the way, surrendering just three hits and striking out five.

Garver finally supplied the power Minnesota has enjoyed all season.

It was the Twins’ league-leading 133rd homer. Minnesota has a home run in 12 straight games.

BUXTON’S BRUISE

Byron Buxton was hit in the wrist by a pitch from Keller in the sixth inning but stayed in the game. However, Marwin Gonzalez pinch hit for Buxton in the eighth and Buxton was announced out with a right wrist bruise. The team said Buxton was day to day.

ROSTER MOVES

Both teams were active before the game. Kansas City optioned struggling first baseman Ryan O’Hearn to Triple-A Omaha and recalled outfielder Jorge Bonifacio. O’Hearn was hitting .188 in 56 games.

Manager Ned Yost indicated Bonifacio’s arrival was because the team is facing a slew of left-handed starters in the next two series and that his appearance will be short-lived with Hunter Dozier close to being activated from the injured list.

Minnesota swapped out right-handed relievers, sending Fernando Romero back to Triple-A and recalling Zack Littell. Manager Rocco Baldelli said Littell, mostly a starter in his minor league career, will be used in the bullpen going forward.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Alex Gordon was in the lineup at designated hitter a game after being hit by a pitch in the shoulder.

Twins: Rogers pitched for the first time since June 6 after dealing with a back injury.

UP NEXT

RHP Jake Odorizzi (9-2, 1.92 ERA) starts for Minnesota in the second game of the three-game series, with Kansas City countering with RHP Glenn Sparkman (1-2, 3.58). Odorizzi has won nine straight decisions, the longest active streak in the majors, and hasn’t allowed a run in six of his past seven starts. Sparkman is 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in four games as a starter this season.

— Associated Press —