There's no urgency beyond the norm for Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The two teams are a combined three games over .500, so to say the remaining three games of the series are crucial might be a bit of a stretch.
The Seattle Mariners (43-43) and the Kansas City Royals (44-41) have three games remaining in a four-game series that will conclude the unofficial first half of the season. Both teams still feel there is plenty of time to get back into their respective division races.
"We have some good players," Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano said after his team gave up a three-run lead in the last two innings Thursday and lost 4-3 to the Royals. "We will keep playing.
"You lose as a team and you win as a team. We don't want to blame anybody here."
The Mariners and Royals are two of eight teams within 4 1/2 games of the American League wild-card lead. Just a few games past the midway point in the schedule is no time to put extra pressure on this series, according to Kansas City manager Ned Yost.
Then again, Yost says he doesn't do that for any series.
"I don't know how many times I have to go over this," he said before the game. "I don't feel (extra) urgency. The reason for that is that we feel urgency every day. We don't treat these situations with more urgency than any other situation. In a major league season, every game is important. Your mindset has to be that this is the most important game of the year. Tomorrow, that's going to be your mindset."
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Royals rookie second baseman Whit Merrifield added: "I wouldn't say there's urgency, but it's always important to put together good games and try to take the series. Going into the All-Star break it would be good to finish strong and build momentum. But I wouldn't say that it's any more urgent than any other series.
"I don't know about it still being early, but there's a lot of baseball left. A lot of stuff can happen between now and September or October. There are lot of games to be played and a lot of ups and downs to come."
Seattle has experienced ups and downs on the road. The Mariners started the season with a 19-8 road record, but they have now lost 15 of their last 17 away contests, including 10 straight. Seattle is hitting the ball -- it has 129 home runs, the second-highest total in the majors. The Mariners also are pitching well, owning the fourth-best ERA in the American League (3.94).
Their defense has let them down. Seattle is tied with the Minnesota Twins for the worst fielding percentage in the league.
The Royals' problems are almost opposite. Kansas City is one of the better defensive teams, but it ranks last in the American League in home runs and RBIs. The starting pitching also is struggling. Danny Duffy's strong outing Thursday was just the team's 32nd quality start in 85 games.
The Royals will throw inconsistent Yordano Ventura (6-6, 5.26 ERA) on Friday night. When he's on, he's on. When he's not, he's not.
Recent back-to-back starts against the Tigers and Cardinals showed his good and bad form. He went 6 1/3 scoreless innings vs. Detroit on June 17, giving up six hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He followed that outing by going 5 1/3 innings and allowing seven runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts against St. Louis.
Ventura is running into much of his troubles early in games. He has a 7.31 ERA in the first two innings but a 4.07 ERA from the third inning on.
He will be looking for his first career win over the Mariners (0-3 with a 4.34 ERA in five starts). Ventura took a 6-0 loss at Seattle on April 30, when he allowed five runs in four-plus innings.
The Mariners will counter with Hisashi Iwakuma, who has been improving as the season progresses. Iwakuma (8-6, 4.43 ERA) is 7-2 in his past nine starts. His ERA is still 4.47 in that span, but he has been able to keep his team in games.
Iwakuma owns impressive career numbers against Kansas City: 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA in four starts, though he hasn't faced the Royals this year.
