Mariners can’t hold lead after rally, fall to Royals on Blanco’s squeeze bunt

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 14, 2023

By David Smale / Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dairon Blanco executed a suicide squeeze bunt in the ninth inning to score Samad Taylor, and the Kansas City Royals rallied after blowing a 5-0 lead to hand the playoff-contending Seattle Mariners their third straight loss, 7-6 on Monday night.

Brady Singer took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Bobby Witt Jr. hit an inside-the-park homer and Salvador Perez hit a three-run shot to build the Royals’ big lead. But it all came undone in the final two innings.

Julio Rodríguez hit a bases-clearing double in the eighth to get the Mariners within 5-3, then scored on a single by Eugenio Suárez. In the ninth, Josh Rojas tied it with a run-scoring single against Nick Wittgren (1-0), and Rodríguez’s RBI single put the Mariners on top.

But Matt Brash (8-4) immediately ran into trouble in the ninth. He gave up consecutive singles and Perez tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Blanco then bunted Brash’s first pitch down the first-base line, and first baseman Dylan Moore couldn’t handle it cleanly as Taylor dashed home with the game-ending run.

The Mariners (63-55) fell two games behind Toronto for the final AL wild-card spot.