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Mariners break out the offense, pound Royals

Apr 16, 2008 - 4:00 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The Seattle Mariners' middle infield used Tuesday's battle with the Kansas City Royals to perfect the art of the sacrifice fly, resulting in the club's best offensive output of the season.

Jose Lopez tied a major league record with three sacrifice flies and Yuniesky Betancourt added two more as the Mariners cruised to an 11-6 win over the Royals.

Kenji Johjima continued to break out of his early-season slump, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and two RBI for Seattle, which snapped a two-game slide.

"We did a lot of little things today," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "We added on runs, which was very positive. The guys are swinging the bats better.

"We had runners at third and got a sacrifice fly, and runners at second and got them over, an occasional stolen base. I was very pleased with the way the offense responded today."

The Mariners tied a team record with five sacrifice flies in the contest and managed more than eight runs in a game for the first time this season.

"That's pretty cool," Lopez said after learning he had earned a spot in the record book. "In those situations, I'm just looking for one pitch to hit hard for a base hit."

McLaren said his second baseman, who made the All-Star team two years ago but struggled last season, is a changed man.

"His focus has been tremendous," McLaren said. "He came into spring training and was in a good mood and worked hard, and he's getting better and better."

Kansas City opened the scoring in the top of the first with its own sacrifice fly as Billy Butler plated David DeJesus for a 1-0 edge.

But Seattle responded in kind in the bottom of the frame as Lopez knocked in his first run with a fly ball to left field.

The Mariners added two more runs in the second inning and one in the third to push the lead to 4-1.

The Royals got to Mariners starter Miguel Batista (1-2) in the fourth, plating three runs on Alex Gordon's RBI groundout and a pair of run-scoring singles to tie the contest at 4-4. But Seattle put away the game with two runs in the bottom of the frame and three more in the fifth.

Batista made it through five innings to notch the win, allowing four runs and seven hits while walking two and striking out one.

"My velocity was better today than it was in Tampa (during his last start), and my command, too," Batista said.

Kansas City, which leads the major leagues in fewest runs allowed and was coming off back-to-back 5-1 complete-game wins, got just three innings out of starter John Bale (0-3). The lefthander was charged with five runs and seven hits.

"They did a good job of getting their leadoff batter on every inning, especially when you get leadoff doubles," Bale said. "You get them on, you get them over and you get them in. They had four or five sacrifice flies, so they did a good job of doing that."

"The pitching just wasn't there today for anyone," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "At the start, the ball wasn't coming out of John's hand right. Things just kind of snowballed in the bullpen after (Hideo) Nomo came in."

Butler went 0-for-3 to end his 13-game hitting streak, but shortstop Tony Pena Jr. went 4-for-7 in the two-game series to rebound from an 0-for-23 slump.