Royals’ Davies holds Mariners scoreless
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kyle Davies picked up the tempo in the final three innings of his previous outing for Kansas City, finding a rhythm as he got Minnesota’s hitters to swing at pitches out of the zone.
It worked then, so he tried it again.
Davies matched a career high with eight strikeouts in eight innings and combined with closer Joakim Soria on a four-hitter, lifting the Royals to a 3-0 win over the struggling Seattle Mariners Monday night.
“The last three innings in Minnesota, the tempo was a whole lot better,” Davies said. “My pitches were down, they were swinging at pitches out of the zone and I was getting soft contact, if not no contact. That’s what happened tonight.”
Davies (7-7) had scuffled the past month or so, going 1-5 with a 5.34 ERA in six starts, in part because of high pitch counts.
The right-hander worked quickly and efficiently against the Mariners, getting ahead in the count with fastballs, then dropping in curveballs and change-ups to keep them off-balance.
“Good pitching generally beats good hitting, and he just beat us,” M’s manager Jim Riggleman said.
Davies didn’t allow a hit until Jose Lopez lined a high fastball into right for a single leading off the fifth, and had Seattle swinging through off-speed pitches, striking out four batters in the second and third innings.
Davies worked out of a jam in the sixth, getting Yuniesky Bettancourt to ground into a double play with runners on the corners and one out, and ended the seventh with another double play.
Soria worked the ninth for his 38th save in 41 chances, though Davies probably could have finished it after throwing 95 pitches and not walking a batter for the first time this season.
“That’s, by far, the No. 1 outing of the year,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “He was commanding the ball, his confidence (was up), he was attacking the hitters. Kyle always has the mind-set of being aggressive and attacking the hitters, but he was able to keep the ball in the zone a lot more.”
Seattle starter Carlos Silva (4-15) was relatively sharp after missing his last start due to back spasms, keeping the ball mostly down while allowing eight hits and two runs in 51/3 innings.
The Mariners didn’t give him much help, getting shut out for the 10th time this season for their fifth straight loss.
“There’s no excuses – we just got beat,” Riggleman said.
Seattle’s Raul Ibanez was 0 for 3, ending his streak of reaching base safely at 32 games.