Shealy shears Seattle

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Ryan Shealy homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 10-8 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

Esteban German went 3 for 5 and drove in three runs for the Royals. If the Royals win six of their remaining 15 games, they will avoid becoming the first non-expansion team to lose 100 games in three straight years since the 1952-54 Pittsburgh Pirates.

Shealy hit a two-run homer in the third inning off starter Jarrod Washburn (8-14). Then, after Emiliano Fruto replaced Washburn with two on and one out in the fifth, Shealy drove the first pitch over the left-field fence to cap a four-run inning and put the Royals up 7-5.

Ichiro Suzuki went 3 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs for the Mariners, but also hurt them with some overzealous baserunning. Adrian Beltre also had a homer and three RBIs.

Royals starter Odalis Perez (2-3) came out after giving up Kenji Johjima’s single to lead off the sixth inning. Two walks by Scott Dohmann, including an intentional pass to Ichiro, loaded the bases with one out.

Beltre’s single scored Johjima, but Ichiro overran second and Jose Lopez was thrown out at the plate trying to convert the ensuing rundown into a run. Dohmann then struck out Yuniesky Betancourt to end the inning.

The Royals added three insurance runs in the eighth for a 10-6 lead on Angel Berroa’s successful squeeze bunt and German’s two-run triple.