Joe Blanton outduels Felix Hernandez as Royals top Mariners 4-1

Joe Blanton had walked away from baseball a year ago, content to spend his coming years tending a winery in Napa Valley after a decade in baseball. Shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, during an idyllic night in the Pacific Northwest, he handed a baseball to Royals manager Ned Yost and completed a different walk.

Blanton loped from the mound to the dugout, in line for the win in a 4-1 victory over the Mariners.

He became only the latest reclamation project to aid their battered starting rotation. He out-dueled Mariners ace Felix Hernandez and finished with six innings of one-run baseball. The Royals signed Blanton in mid-February, taking a flier on his comeback attempt. Four months later, he owns a 1.73 ERA for the class of the American League.

“I’m just riding it out and enjoying it,” Blanton said. “Probably even more than I enjoyed it before. Because I definitely appreciate it more.”

It was up to Blanton on Monday, because the Kansas City rotation features three vacancies. Danny Duffy will be back on Wednesday, but both Jason Vargas and Yordano Ventura remain on the mend. The team turned to Blanton for his second start of the season.

Blanton faced 16 batters in between a solo homer by Robinson Cano in the first and a double by Austin Jackson in the seventh. He retired all 16. Blanton struck out seven. The only two men on base resulted from those two hits. He never pitched out of the stretch.

“A lot of his pitches that he threw tonight just missed by like a half an inch,” Yost said. “His ability to execute his game plan, and to execute his pitches, and to keep hitters off balance has been really impressive.”

Yost pulled Blanton (2-0, 1.73 ERA) after Jackson’s double. Kelvin Herrera stranded Jackson with a pair of strikeouts. The decision was academic, given the talent available in the Royals bullpen. “That’s a hard one to argue, when you’ve got those guys behind you,” Blanton said.

The lineup put pressure on Hernandez and at last toppled him in the eighth inning. Kansas City accumulated four runs on eight hits against the man called King. Alcides Escobar recorded three hits, scored a run and plated another. He chased Hernandez in the eighth with an RBI single up the middle.

“I don’t have any plan with this guy,” Escobar said. “I just was looking for one good pitch, because he throws everything.”

Alex Rios and Omar Infante traded run-scoring singles in the second to pull Kansas City ahead. Mike Moustakas rifled an RBI double for a third run.

The Royals expected their scoring chances to be slim. Hernandez took the mound in search of becoming the American League’s first 11-game winner this season. Few pitchers in the junior circuit can challenge his record of dominance in this decade.

The Mariners market Hernandez’s starts like holidays. The stands along the left-field foul pole are known as “The King’s Court,” and loaded with fans clad in yellow T-shirts. When Hernandez picks up two strikes on an opposing batter, the horde rises to their feet, holding up signs with the letter “K” and chanting the same.

Hernandez suffocates opposing hitters with sinkers low in the zone. He can miss bats with his curveball or his slider. And the Royals in particular were wary of his changeup, which may be his finest offspeed weapon.

“The only thing that’s comforting is you know he throws strikes,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “You don’t really know what he’s going to throw at any time, but you know it’s going to be a strike. So he’s a guy you really don’t plan on taking – not that we take pitches anyway, as a team. But he’s a guy you’ve got to be aggressive with.”

Hernandez retired the first four Royals he faced. Salvador Perez saw three consecutive balls before Hernandez recovered to run the count full. Perez fouled off one sinker, then ripped the next down the left-field line for a double.

The hit dented Hernandez’s veneer of invulnerability, but it still took two at-bats to bring a run home. After Alex Gordon flied out, up came Rios. He had first faced Hernandez in 2007, and had only 10 hits in 43 at-bats. He came up with hit No. 11 when Hernandez threw a fastball down the chute. Rios grounded it up the middle for a single, and third-base coach Mike Jirschele waved Perez home.

With Hernandez on the mound, Jirschele understood the need for aggression. He utilized it again when Infante came to bat. Infante stroked a first-pitch fastball into left. Rios sprinted home from second to give Kansas City the lead.

“I was really impressed with our at-bats against (Hernandez),” Yost said.

A single from Escobar opened the door in the third. Moustakas stayed back on a first-pitch changeup from Hernandez for an RBI double. The hit thunked off the wall in right field. Nelson Cruz missed the carom, so center fielder Austin Jackson had to make the throw. Escobar scored easily from first.

From there, Blanton handled the rest. He never even had to stretch.

“Being able to come back after time off,” Blanton said, “makes it special.”

Royals 4, Mariners 1

a-struck out for N.Cruz in the 7th.

LOB: Kansas City 4, Seattle 2. 2B: Moustakas (15), S.Perez (11), A.Jackson (9). HR: Cano (3), off Blanton. RBIs: A.Escobar (27), Moustakas (28), Rios (10), Infante (19), Cano (23). SB: J.Dyson (7). CS: A.Gordon (4).

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 1 (K.Morales);Seattle 2 (Seager, Cano). RISP: Kansas City 3 for 7;Seattle 0 for 4.

GIDP: K.Morales, Hosmer.

DP: Seattle 4 (Zunino, Zunino, Morrison), (Cano, B.Miller, Morrison), (Beimel, B.Miller, Morrison), (Zunino, Zunino, Cano).

Blanton pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored: K.Herrera 1-0, Beimel 1-0. WP: K.Herrera.

Umpires: Home, Marvin Hudson;First, Jim Joyce;Second, Greg Gibson;Third, Chris Segal.

Time: 2:34. Attendance: 23,588 (47,574).

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Joe Blanton outduels Felix Hernandez as Royals top Mariners 4-1."