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Butler does in Mariners as Royals roll

Jul 4, 2007 - 4:55 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Billy Butler drove in six runs with two swings as the Kansas City Royals hammered the Seattle Mariners 17-3 on Tuesday.

The Royals jumped to a 10-1 lead after two innings as 12 of their first 16 batters reached base safely.

Butler doubled his season RBI count with a three-run homer in the first inning, then added three more with a bases-loaded double in the second.

"This was awesome," Butler said. "We've got good players here and we've said we're going to be good. This was a good night for us. 17 runs means everybody had a good game."

"That was a tremendous night Billy had," Royals manager Buddy Bell said.

After David DeJesus, Esteban German and Mark Teahen singled to start the bottom of the first, Emil Brown walked and Alex Gordon hit a sacrifice fly to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead. Butler then hit the first pitch he saw from Ryan Feierabend (1-3) deep into the fountains in left field, a blast estimated at 421 feet.

"It definitely helps out when you've faced a guy in the past," Butler said of Feierabend. "If you haven't seen the guy you have to make some adjustments, but tonight I was able to focus on looking for my pitch and hitting it."

"Everybody got involved in the offense," Brown said. "That guy (Feierabend) was struggling and we took advantage of him not locating. He forced us to be patient and he stuck to his game plan of trying to get certain guys to swing at certain pitches. We did a good job of being patient and swinging at our pitches."

In the second inning, after German, Teahen and Brown reached to load the bases and Gordon lined out, Butler ripped an 0-1 pitch into the right- center gap, clearing the bases and boosting the Royals lead to 9-1.

"For me, the biggest hit of the night was the double he had with the bases loaded," Bell said. "That was a beautiful looking swing he put on it. Of course, if there was any doubt in the game at the point, he pretty much sealed it for us."

"The ball was out away from me, on the outside corner," Butler said. "I was trying to get it through the infield and help the team. I was fortunate to get it into the gap and get all the runners in."

Kansas City added three more runs in the fourth - Butler reached on an error and scored - and another three in the sixth, expanding their lead to 16-3. Butler later singled and scored in the seventh inning to finish the game with three hits and four runs scored.

"Up and down the lineup we did some good things offensively even on the balls we didn't hits on," Bell said. "We took a walk with the bases loaded and got a couple of sacrifice flies, too."

"We've run into a Kansas City Royals team that is playing good baseball," McLaren said. "They are swinging the bat, playing well, feeling good about themselves."

At the age of 21 years and 76 days old, Butler became the youngest player to drive in at least six runs since Alex Rodriguez also drove in six May 17, 1996 at the age of 20 years and 295 days old.

"Wow, it's good to be in the same company with that guy," Butler said. "I don't think I deserve it, but it's good to know."

Jorge De La Rosa (6-9) was in trouble almost every inning, but persevered through seven innings, allowing eight hits and three runs, walking two and striking out two.

"Jorgie had a little bit of a command issue in the third or fourth," Bell said. "We continued to add on, so it gave us a little more separation. But he gave us exactly what we needed, giving us seven innings like that spares the bullpen."

De La Rosa benefited from three double play grounders in the first five innings to win consecutive games for the first time this year.

"We swung the bats very well," De La Rosa said. "It made me very comfortable, especially after the second inning. I felt very strong."

"Even when you have the big lead you know you have to go out there and throw strikes," catcher Jason LaRue said. "For us, the most important thing was Jorge, when he got into key situations, he didn't get rattled. He made the pitches when they had a chance to make something happen. He made those pitches to get out of jams."

Butler's second-inning double drove Feierabend from the game. He allowed eight hits, 10 runs and two walks in 1 1/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. The 10 runs are the most allowed by a Mariners pitcher this season.

"I was missing over the middle of the plate and I was catching too much of the plate," Feierabend said. "It wasn't that I was throwing a lot of balls. It's just that the balls that I was not throwing weren't quality strikes. I think my confidence was down a little bit especially when the few quality pitches that I did make were hit. When you are getting hit around like that, your confidence goes down a little bit."

"I didn't see the confidence in him that I've seen before, to be honest with you," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "That's been one of his strongest points. We'll talk about it tomorrow and see if there's something on his mind. Tonight his problem was that he couldn't get his breaking ball over, and he made some mistakes with his fastball, and he paid for it. He's a young kid and that happens sometimes with young kids."

Royals hitters batted eight times with the bases loaded and hit .438 (7-for-16) with runners in scoring position, driving in 15 to tie a season scoring high and set a new club record for scoring against the Mariners.

LaRue, who went 3-for-3, homered and doubled, reaching base safely in all five plate appearances, driving in a pair of runs and scoring three times.

Jose Guillen walked, singled twice, and scored two runs for the Mariners, who have lost consecutive games for the first time since June 17-19.