Royals’ skid continues with 6-0 loss to the Mariners

At just past 4:45 p.m. Saturday, a quiet and morose clubhouse was awakened by the sight of an old friend. Raul Ibañez, the former Royal and venerable sage, sauntered through a doorway here at Safeco Field and began handing out handshakes and hugs.

His presence enlivened a room that wore the frustration of four straight losses. Salvador Perez formed a wide smile and came flying across the room. Omar Infante and Kendrys Morales surrounded their former teammate near a side wall. The scene felt like an older brother randomly returning home from college, and it harkened back to a day in the summer of 2014.

On a July afternoon in Chicago, with a young Royals team slumping and adrift, Ibañez, then a 42-year-old reserve outfielder, called a team meeting in a weight room at U.S. Cellular Field. The day served as a pivot point, a cathartic awakening before an improbable World Series appearance in 2014, a spring board before a world championship a season later.

On Saturday night in Seattle, the presence of Ibañez offered no such mojo to another slumping outfit. On a cool night at Safeco Field, the Royals dropped a 6-0 decision to the Mariners, losing for the fifth time in six days, careening aimlessly as the calendar turned to May.

“Stuff like this happens,” said first baseman Eric Hosmer, who saw his 18-game hitting streak come to an end. “You try for it not to happen. You try anything you can.”

An opening month that began with so much promise — an 8-2 start and a World Series ring ceremony at Kauffman Stadium — ended with a series of duds on a West Coast road trip. After suffering through a three-game sweep to the Angels in Anaheim, Calif., the Royals, 12-11, now have lost two straight in Seattle.

The trouble spots are not hard to pinpoint. The offense has not scored a run in 26 innings. The starting pitching has regressed — to a degree, at least — after a terrific start. The five-game losing skid is the Royals’ first since the first week of May in 2014, a seven-game road losing streak the first since 2011.

“We’ve been through this 100 times,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You just keep fighting to get out of it.”

On Saturday, the result was bereft of much drama. Royals starter Yordano Ventura yielded four runs on two homers in the first inning, including a three-run shot to Kyle Seager, and the Royals offense continued its recent decline.

Facing Seattle left-hander Wade Miley, who entered with a 7.04 ERA in his four starts, the Royals’ offense came up empty over nine innings and stretched its scoreless drought to 26 innings. The Royals had not gone 25 innings without a run since 2008.

For nine innings, they mustered just five hits against Miley, who notched the first shutout of his career. Alex Gordon finished 0 for 2, dropping his season average to .208. Shortstop Alcides Escobar went hitless in four at-bats and is now 2 for 24 in his last six games.

The offense could not snap its nightmarish streak with runners in scoring position. After going hitless with runners in scoring position on Saturday, the Royals are now zero for 23, beginning with Tuesday’s loss in Anaheim.

“You just keep grinding, man,” Hosmer said. “You keep playing. You keep going at it. There are no special tricks. There’s no special answer.”

In the moment after the game, in a hushed clubhouse, Ventura buttoned a black dress shirt and dressed alone. He had opened his season by posting a 2.35 ERA in his first four starts. On Saturday, he could not command his arsenal.

In the bottom of the first, he grooved a fastball to the second hitter he saw, looking for an early strike. Seattle right fielder Seth Smith ambushed it, cranking it 429 feet to right-center.

Ventura followed by issuing two walks. Moments later, Seager crushed another fastball into the seats in right. The score was 4-0. The night was derailed early.

Yost would call it a “wild night for him — literally.” Ventura would take ownership of his poor command. He walked six batters and hit another. It was the fourth time in his career he had issued six walks — and the second in five starts this season.

“He didn’t make good pitches at all, with any of his pitches,” said Royals catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Ventura. “It wasn’t just the fastball. It was everything.”

In the clubhouse after the game, the Royals tried to bury another loss and move on. They will finish the road trip at 3:10 p.m. hereon Sunday before opening a three-game series against the Washington Nationals on Monday at Kauffman Stadium. A year ago, they went a full season without losing five straight. In 2016, they could not escape April without the sting of a prolonged streak.

Standing near his locker, Hosmer pointed to one play in the top of the third. With two out and a runner on first, Mike Moustakas lashed a ground-rule double to left-center. Escobar would have scored easily on the play, but the baseball bounced over the wall.

The play meant little to the final result, Hosmer said. But it did represent the feeling in the Royals’ clubhouse.

“That’s just the way things go sometimes,” Hosmer said. “We’re going to do anything we can to get out of it. Hopefully (we)steal a win and then head back home where we play best.”

Mariners 6, Royals 0

LOB: Kansas City 5, Seattle 9. 2B: Moustakas (6). HR: S.Smith (4), off Ventura; K.Seager (5), off Ventura. RBIs: S.Smith (10), Cruz (14), K.Seager 3 (13), L.Martin (10). CS: K.Marte (1). S: K.Marte.

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 2 (L.Cain 2); Seattle 4 (Cano 2, Lind 2). RISP: Kansas City 0 for 1; Seattle 1 for 5. GIDP: S.Perez, Aoki, Lind. DP: Kansas City 2 (Hosmer, A.Escobar, Hosmer), (A.Escobar, Hosmer); Seattle 1 (K.Marte, Cano, Lind).

Ventura pitched to 1 batter in the 5th.

Inherited runners-scored: Gee 1-0. HBP: by Gee (Cruz), by Ventura (Cruz), by Miley (A.Gordon).

Umpires: Home, Bill Welke; First, D.J. Reyburn; Second, Clint Fagan; Third, Vic Carapazza. Time: 2:28. Att: 43,444.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Royals’ skid continues with 6-0 loss to the Mariners."