All good things must come to an end, and so it was for the Royals’ 16-game winning streak as Kansas City dropped a 4-1 decision to Seattle on Friday night at Royals Stadium.

Each team scored a run in the first inning. The Mariners’ Steve Braun started the game with a single off Marty Pattin. Jose Baez bunted Braun to second, and Ruppert Jones singled for a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, Seattle’s Doc Medich allowed singles to Tom Poquette, Hal McRae, and Al Cowens, which produced the game-tying run.

The Royals missed a golden opportunity in the second, when Frank White singled with two outs and U L Washington doubled. Poquette was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but McRae popped up to end the inning. From there, Medich and Pattin matched zeroes until the eighth.

Juan Bernhardt singled to begin the Seattle eighth inning. After a bunt moved him to second, pinch-hitter Craig Reynolds singled to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead.

During their winning streak, the Royals had seven comeback wins. So a 2-1 deficit might not have seemed that big, but Seattle added two more runs in the ninth. Pattin got the first two batters, but Leroy Stanton kept the inning alive with a single. Dan Meyer doubled to drive in pinch-runner Luis Delgado, and Meyer scored when Washington committed an error on a Skip Jutze grounder. Medich retired the Royals in order in the ninth, and the streak was over.

With the loss, which was only the seventh at home for Kansas City since June 17, the Royals dropped to 91-55. They still led the AL West by 10.5 games, and with Chicago’s loss, the magic number to clinch the division fell to six.

Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA197709160.shtml

Today’s birthdays: Desi Relaford (1973), Chris George (1979), Brandon Moss (1983), Jakob Junis (1992), Dylan Coleman (1996)