The Royals hit two solo home runs but did nothing else on offense, losing 4-2 to Seattle on Monday night at Royals Stadium.

Seattle scored first, getting one run in the first against Royals starter Dennis Leonard. With one out, Steve Braun doubled. With two outs, Leroy Stanton singled to score Braun.

But Kansas City had an immediate answer. Tom Poquette led off the bottom of the first with a home run, his first of the season. But Mariners starter Gary Wheelock would only allow four singles after that as he worked through the fifth inning. He also got two double plays to help keep the Royals from scoring.

Braun struck again in the third, lacing a one-out triple. Dan Meyer’s sacrifice fly brought him home and gave Seattle a 2-1 lead.

Leonard was still on the mound when the eighth inning rolled around; after all, he had only allowed five hits to that point. But Jose Baez led off with a single. Braun bunted him to third. Leonard walked Meyer, then got Ruppert Jones to ground out to first, moving the runners up a base. Stanton singled, scoring both runners.

Hal McRae led off the eighth with a home run off Seattle reliever Mike Kekich, cutting the Mariners’ lead to 4-2. But Kekich and Enrique Romo combined to shut down the Royals for the rest of the game.

With the loss, the Royals dropped to 31-32. They dropped back into fifth place in the AL West, but were still only four games out of first place in a tightly-packed race.

Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA197706200.shtml

Today’s birthdays: Luis Alcaraz (1941), Dave Nelson (1944), Paul Bako (1972), Kendrys Morales (1983)