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Ramirez pitches well as Mariners beat Royals

Apr 28, 2007 - 6:38 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Horacio Ramirez rebounded from a poor start to keep the Seattle Mariners rolling.

Ramirez pitched well into the seventh inning and Jose Lopez and Kenji Johjima each homered as the Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4, in the opener of a three-game series.

Adrian Beltre had two hits and three RBI for Seattle, which has won a season-high four straight games.

"You just want to be consistent as a team every day," Beltre said of the Mariners recent success. "Our pitching staff was a little rough in the beginning, but in the last week or so they have really been picking us up."

Ramirez (2-1), who was tagged for six runs in four innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Saturday, allowed a run and seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in this one.

Ramirez got off to a rocky start in this one, loading the bases in the first inning on a pair of singles and a hit batsman. But he retired Emil Brown and rookie Ryan Shealy on four pitches to keep the struggling Royals from scoring.

"I got into that situation in my last start and I tried to do a little too much," Ramirez said. "This time I stuck to my game plan and focused on one pitch at a time and was able to get out of it. I was happy with the way I was throwing and for the most part I was making my pitches."

Lopez belted his third homer of the season in the fifth off Kansas City starter Jorge De La Rosa, and Johjima hit his second in the seventh for a 3-1 lead.

Beltre added a two-run single later in the frame for insurance runs the Mariners ended up needing, as Ross Gload swatted his third career pinch-hit home run, a three-run shot off Chris Reitsma in the eighth inning.

"Pinch-hitting, it's a good day or a bad day real quick, you only get one shot at it, so, 0-2, I'm just trying to the ball in play, trying to hit it to left and got lucky and hooked something," Gload said.

"He gave us a chance after struggling to score runs," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "Hopefully it will get us going. We've been really struggling scoring runs and that's going to happen.

J.J. Putz got the last five outs to record his third save for Seattle, but team trainers were summoned to the mound during the inning.

"He threw 1 2/3 yesterday (against Oakland) and 1 2/3 again today, so he was tired," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "For almost the last month he hasn't had a save opportunity and in the last four days he has had three opportunities, and he has converted them all.

After retiring the two batters he faced in relief in the eighth, Putz hit Mark Grudzielanek to open the ninth, then followed with a walk to Reggie Sanders. But with one out, Putz got Brown to ground into a game-ending double play to preserve the victory.

Jose Vidro singled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Grudzielanek drove in a run with a ground ball in the seventh, snapping the Royals' 21-inning scoreless streak.

De La Rosa (2-2) allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.