Royals shake recent offensive doldrums

By Doug Tucker

AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals used their best at-bat in about six weeks to break out of their offensive funk.

After fouling off several pitches, David DeJesus grounded a 3-2 pitch up the middle for a two-run single in the second inning for a four-run lead Tuesday night, an offensive bonanza for a team that had scored in only one of its previous 38 innings.

Kansas City then held on to beat Seattle 8-6, the Royals' first win in nine games against the Mariners.

''It might have been the best at-bat since I've been here,'' said manager Buddy Bell, who arrived on May 31.

''The count was 3-2 with a base open and you're not sure what you're going to get. He fouled two or three pitches off. Then he hit a fastball up the middle. I thought that was an outstanding at-bat.''

The Royals had been shut out in three of their last four games and had lost 14 of 16. DeJesus, who also had an RBI double, knew the Royals needed him to come through against Gil Meche in that key moment.

''Stay up there, stay calm,'' DeJesus said. ''I fought a couple of pitches off. And I was able to get a pitch to hit up the middle.''

He said a feeling of relief seemed to go through the entire team.

''I know I felt it,'' DeJesus said.

Angel Berroa drove in two runs behind D.J. Carrasco (4-3), who went 5 1-3 innings for the win. He gave up five runs on 10 hits, with two walks and three strikeouts.

Mike MacDougal got three outs for his 10th save.

Meche (8-6) also looked back on DeJesus' at-bat in the second.

''I was trying to give him a pitch to hit and get out of the inning,'' Meche said. ''I got it over the plate too much. It's one of those days you hope doesn't happen again.''

Meche breezed through the first inning, but wound up going only three innings plus two batters and was charged with five runs and seven hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.

''He threw 11 pitches in the first inning and then 60-something over the next two,'' Seattle manager Jim Hargrove said. ''Somewhere between the first and second inning, the light switch got turned off.''

Matt Stairs singled leading off the second and then with two outs, Berroa singled, Shane Costa hit an RBI single and Alberto Castillo walked. Berroa scored on Meche's wild pitch, then DeJesus slammed a two-run single into center for the Royals' first lead in five games.

Berroa's two-run triple made it 6-1 in the third.

Adrian Beltre and Willie Bloomquist each had three hits and two RBIs for the Mariners, who outhit the Royals 14-7.

Beltre led off the second with a home run and had an RBI single in the seventh. Richie Sexson had an RBI single in the fifth. Bloomquist had a two-run double in the seventh and eventually scored on Ichiro Suzuki's sacrifice fly off reliever Andrew Sisco.

DeJesus also had a hand in the Royals' eighth run. His long fly ball allowed Costa to go from second to third, then Ruben Gotay drove him in with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-5 in the sixth.

Carrasco, who's now stopped an eight-game and a four-game slide, hadn't worried too much about his team's lack of offense.

''I don't want to put a bad seed in my mind like that,'' he said. ''I just go out there and say I'm going to keep this team close. I don't want to go out there thinking, 'Man, these guys aren't going to score for me.' I know everybody's doing the best they can. Some days, it just doesn't happen.''

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Notes: For the second game in a row, the Mariners managed to avoid giving up a run in the first inning. They had surrendered at least one run in the first in seven straight games ... Sweeney is one of only 10 major league players who have earned five All-Star selections in the past six seasons ... The Royals have seven double plays in their last three games.