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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Gil Meche was well ahead of the Kansas
City Royals and needed only to beat the rain.
"I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes and see if my
fastball could last throughout the game," said Meche, who allowed
just one hit through five innings of Seattle's rain-shortened 7-0
victory Tuesday night.
"The last pitch I threw in the fifth inning still had good
velocity on it," said Meche, making his first start since coming
off the disabled list. "Before it was to a point where that pitch
right there would have been about 85. Things are looking better."
Seattle moved a season-high seven games over .500 (34-27).
The Mariners scored three runs in the third inning and three
more in the fourth as Meche began to pick up his pitching pace. In
the top of the fifth, everyone knew a heavy thunderstorm was
rumbling toward Kauffman Stadium and might halt play for the night.
Leading 7-0, the Mariners made outs as quickly as they could in the
sixth, swinging weakly at every first pitch to make sure the
minimum 5½ innings were played to make it an official game.
"We knew we had about 15 minutes," Seattle manager Lou
Piniella said. "It was actually a little longer than that, but we
were told 15 minutes. We put the ball in play real quick."
The Royals, who lost their third consecutive home game for the
first time this season, understood Piniella's strategy, but didn't
like it.
"That was a joke," catcher Gregg Zaun said. "I don't know
that I've ever seen anybody do that before, but I guess you can't
blame them."
Mike Sweeney had the Royals' only hit -- an opposite-field double
with two outs in the first. Kansas City had only two other
baserunners on a walk and an error.
The game, halted as the Royals came to bat in the bottom of the
sixth, was called after a delay of 1 hour, 26 minutes.
Meche (2-4) who missed two starts with a strained right
shoulder, struck out two, walked one and also benefited from an
outstanding running catch by left fielder Rickey Henderson in the
third.
Seattle, a half-game ahead of Oakland in the AL West, has won
four in a row and seven of nine.
Mike Cameron's leadoff triple off Brett Laxton (0-1) in the
third got the Mariners started on a three-run inning. Raul Ibanez
had an RBI single, Mark McLemore hit an RBI double, and Alex
Rodriguez had an RBI groundout.
Seattle made it 6-0 in the fourth on John Mabry's two-run single
and a sacrifice fly by Henderson.
John Olerud scored the Mariners' final run on a passed ball in
the sixth.
Laxton, making his debut with the Royals, gave up six runs,
eight hits and two walks, and struck out one in 3 1-3 innings.
Henderson robbed Scott Pose of a hit in the third with a nice
running catch one step inside the left-field foul line.
Game notes
Royals SS Rey Sanchez, who turned a nice 6-3 double play in
the second, has gone 40 games without an error. He has just one
error this season in 56 games. ... Kansas City's Jermaine Dye took
over first place among outfielders in AL All-Star balloting. He has
510,595 votes and leads Yankees OF Bernie Williams by more than
13,000. ... Royals OF Carlos Beltran, the 1999 AL Rookie of the
Year, was benched in favor of Todd Dunwoody. Beltran is hitting
.252. ... Olerud singled in all three at-bats. ... A member of the
grounds crew got caught under the billowing tarp after it covered
the infield. Royals players came running out of the dugout to
assist, but the man emerged to the cheers of the crowd a moment
later.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Seattle Clubhouse
Kansas City Clubhouse
RECAPS
Chi. White Sox 4
Cleveland 3
Detroit 16
Toronto 3
Boston 5
NY Yankees 3
Anaheim 5
Tampa Bay 3
Baltimore 3
Texas 2
Seattle 7
Kansas City 0
Oakland 6
Minnesota 5
St. Louis 8
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Atlanta 6
Philadelphia 4
Florida 3
Chicago Cubs 4
NY Mets 3
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Milwaukee 4
Houston 6
Colorado 3
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