Royals Pen A Winning Script Haney Beats Mariners 3-1 With Help From His Friends

The Kansas City Royals’ bullpen didn’t let down Chris Haney this time.

“He told them he’d buy them all a new suit if they held onto that one for him,” manager Bob Boone said after Hipolito Pichardo and Jeff Montgomery preserved Haney’s 3-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

“Those guys are going to do the job nine times out of 10,” Haney said. “I just caught a couple of bad breaks.”

Haney left with an 8-1 lead in Texas last Thursday. Pichardo, Montgomery and Billy Brewer blew that one for him and the Royals lost 10-9 in 10 innings.

Haney improved his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.34 with seven innings of five-hit ball. He struck out five and walked two before Boone replaced him at the start of the eighth.

Haney was not involved in a decision in his previous three starts although he was removed from all three games with the lead.

“He should be 5-1,” Boone said. “We coughed up two of them for him.”

An 18-24 career pitcher, Haney is off to his best start ever.

“It’s definitely the most consistent that I’ve pitched,” he said. “I’ve had some great games here and there in my career and then I’ve turned around and had some terrible games.”

Vince Coleman extended his hitting streak to 17 games and the Royals scored two runs in the seventh inning to earn their fourth straight victory and 15th in 20 games.

Haney beat Salomon Torres (0-3) in handing the Mariners their third loss in a row. Montgomery earned his 10th save, getting Tino Martinez to hit into the Royals’ fourth double play of the game, in the ninth.

Coleman walked to open the seventh and scored from first when right fielder Mike Blowers bobbled Wally Joyner’s one-out single. Keith Lockhart singled home Joyner from second.

Coleman, who singled in the first and fifth innings off Torres, has the second-longest hitting streak in the A.L. behind Mark McGwire’s 18.

Torres made his second start for the Mariners since being acquired in a trade from San Francisco May 21. He gave up three runs on eight hits and five walks in seven innings.

“Salomon pitched very well,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “Hopefully, that’s what we can expect from him in the future because he’s going to win some ball games for us.”

The Royals took a 1-0 lead when Pat Borders led off the fifth with his fourth home run of the season.

The Mariners tied the score in the sixth on Rich Amaral’s single, Felix Fermin’s double and Edgar Martinez’s sacrifice fly.