Final
Royals blast Weaver; Meche wins in return to Seattle
Apr 29, 2007 - 6:44 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Gil Meche's teammates had his back in his return to Seattle.The Kansas City Royals ripped Jeff Weaver for six runs in less than an inning and Meche did enough to beat his former team as the Kansas City Royals posted an 8-3 victory the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.
Meche (2-1), who signed a five-year, $55 million contract with the Royals in the offseason after spending six years with the Mariners, had baserunners on in every inning but withstood it because his teammates blasted Weaver.
Despite being hit hard this time around, allowing three unearned runs and 10 hits and six innings, Meche has yielded just seven earned runs in his last 20 1/3 innings.
"I wasn't real sharp today, they got a lot of balls to hit," Meche said. "I was just fortunate enough to stay out of some big innings and make some pitches when I needed to. The six runs (in the first inning) was definitely key in this game today."
His counter part, Weaver, whom Seattle signed to a one-year, $8.5 million contract, did not survive the first inning, allowing six runs and seven hits in one-third of an inning. It was the shortest outing of his career.
Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said Weaver's problem was location.
"That's all it was, his velocity was good," Hargrove said. It was location with everything. He was up with everything and they hit them."
Weaver (0-4, 18.26 ERA) allowed the first five runners to reach base before recording the first out. After singles by David DeJesus and Mark Grudzielanek to lead off the game, Mark Teahan hit an RBI single to left. Mike Sweeney then singled and Ross Gload launched a two-run double to right for a 3-0 lead.
After Emil Brown's RBI groundout, the 30-year-old Weaver allowed a single and a walk before Tony Pena Jr. hit a two-run single for a 6-0 lead, sending Weaver to the showers.
"It looked like Jeff was a little wild in the strike zone and we took advantage of it," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "We hit with some runners on, which was good to see. We did a good job offensively."
The Seattle starter couldn't put his finger on exactly what the problem was following the shortest outing of his career.
"It's tough to place your finger on it," Weaver said. "You feel like you have something figured out and then you have another game like this where it seemed like whatever you threw up there, they were swinging and putting a good swing on it."
Jose Vidro extended his hitting streak to 12 games for the Mariners, who saw their season-high four-game winning streak go by the wayside. Part of the reason was that they were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Ichiro Suzuki had two RBI for the Mariners, who won the first game of the series, 7-4, on Friday night.
Grudzielanek added an RBI double in the third for the Royals, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Brandon Duckworth worked three scoreless innings to record his first career save.
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
KANSAS CITY 6 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 12 2
SEATTLE 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 13 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: KAN - GIL MECHE, BRANDON DUCKWORTH (7TH) AND JOHN BUCK
SEA - JEFF WEAVER, SEAN WHITE (1ST), ERIC O'FLAHERTY
(5TH), JULIO MATEO (7TH), GEORGE SHERRILL (9TH) AND KENJ
Apr 29 12:19 AM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
GROUND OUT BY ICHIRO SUZUKI SCORED YUNIESKY BETANCOURT.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J LOPEZ ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 8
SEATTLE 3 BOTTOM, 4TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: A BELTRE (.240, 0-FOR-2)
Royals vs. MarinersApr 28 10:44 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY JOHN BUCK SCORED MIKE SWEENEY.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, A GORDON ON FIRST, E BROWN ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 8
SEATTLE 2 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: T PENA JR (.214, 1-FOR-2, 2 RBI)
Royals vs. MarinersApr 28 10:35 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY MARK GRUDZIELANEK SCORED JOHN BUCK.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M GRUDZIELANEK ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 7
SEATTLE 2 TOP, 3RD
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: M TEAHEN (.274, 1-FOR-1, BB, RBI)
Royals vs. MarinersApr 28 10:11 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY ICHIRO SUZUKI SCORED YUNIESKY BETANCOURT.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, I SUZUKI ON FIRST, J LOPEZ ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 6
SEATTLE 2 BOTTOM, 2ND
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: A BELTRE (.243, 0-FOR-1)
Royals vs. MarinersApr 28 10:02 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
ERROR BY MARK GRUDZIELANEK ALLOWED JOSE GUILLEN TO SCORE.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J LOPEZ ON FIRST, Y BETANCOURT ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 6
SEATTLE 1 BOTTOM, 2ND
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: I SUZUKI (.311, 0-FOR-1)
Royals vs. MarinersApr 28 10:00 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
KANSAS CITY 6 6 7 0
SEATTLE 0 0 0 (BOT 1)
CURRENT PITCHERS: KAN - GIL MECHE
SEA - SEAN WHITE
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: I SUZUKI (.315, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
A BELTRE (.247, 3 HR, 15 RBI)
J VIDRO (.316, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
Royals vs. MarinersApr 28 9:32 PM
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