Bubic, Royals dent Mariners’ postseason hopes with win

He allowed three runs and eight hits, needing 86 pitches to get through three innings, and he threw three wild pitches in the first inning alone. Kukuchi’s fastball averaged 94.1 mph, down from a season average of 95.3 mph coming in.

“I always talk about starting pitching setting the tone,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “Obviously, Kikuchi coming out of the chute tonight with really no command of any of his pitches was a challenge. It’s remarkable that we were still in the game at that point.”

Kikuchi didn’t make excuses.

“I felt like I wasn’t able to get in a good rhythm,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “No walks tonight, but getting behind in the count cost me.”

Seattle lost for the fifth time in seven games and dropped four games behind Toronto for the American League’s second wild-card berth with 14 games remaining. The New York Yankees and Oakland also are ahead of the Mariners.

Salvador Perez had a run-scoring single in a four-run eighth, his major league-leading 113th RBI.

Bubic (5-6) allowed one run and two hits, combining with Domingo Tapia, Josh Staumont and Gabe Speier on a three-hitter.

“It was fastball command early and then he added everything,” Kansas City manager Mike Matheny said of Bubic. “He was living on the corners with just about everything. He had a little bit of trouble early, but then he found it and got better as he went. The breaking ball showed up later in the outing. He didn’t give a lot of free passes, but when he did he figured out ways to get himself out of it.”

Kansas City stopped a three-game losing streak and at 67-81 avoided for one more day assuring its fifth consecutive losing season.

Whit Merrifield reached on an infield single in the first and came around on three wild pitches. Two-out singles by Andrew Benintendi, Carlos Santana and Adalberto Mondesi doubled the lead.

Seattle Kansas City

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Crawford ss 3 0 0 0 Merrifield 2b 5 2 2 0

Haniger rf 4 0 0 0 Lopez ss 5 1 2 1

France 1b 3 1 2 0 Perez c 5 0 1 1

Seager 3b 4 0 0 0 Benintndi lf 4 1 2 1

Toro 2b 3 0 0 1 C.Santna 1b 5 0 1 1

Torrens dh 3 0 0 0 Mondesi 3b 5 1 2 1

Kelenic cf 1 0 0 0 Taylor cf 4 1 2 2

Murphy c 2 0 0 0 Dozier rf 3 1 2 0

Fraley ph-lf 1 0 0 0 Alberto dh 3 0 1 0

Moore lf 2 0 1 0 Isbel ph-dh 0 1 0 0

Bauers ph 1 0 0 0

Raleigh c 0 0 0 0

Totals 27 1 3 1 Totals 39 8 15 7

Seattle 000 000 100 — 1

Kansas City 201 010 04x — 8

E—Seager (14). DP—Seattle 0, Kansas City 2. LOB—Seattle 3, Kansas City 10. 2B—France (28), Mondesi (6), Taylor (14). HR—Taylor (12). SB—Alberto (3), Mondesi (10). SF—Benintendi (6).

IP H R ER BB SO

Seattle

Kikuchi L,7-9 3 8 3 3 0 3

Ramirez 1 2 0 0 0 1

Doolittle 1 1 1 1 1 0

Swanson 1 0 0 0 0 1

Andriese 2 4 4 2 1 1

Kansas City

Bubic W,5-6 61/3 2 1 1 4 2

Tapia 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

Staumont H,13 1 0 0 0 0 0

Speier 1 1 0 0 0 0

WP—Kikuchi 3, Ramirez.

Umpires—Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Jansen Visconti; Second, Jim Wolf; Third, Shane Livensparger.

T—3:27. A—20,085 (37,903).