Jr. Hits 33rd In Loss To K.C.

If Tuesday night's game was Kevin Appier's final one in a Kansas City uniform, he went out in style.

Appier pitched seven effective innings as the Royals overcame Ken Griffey Jr.'s 33rd home run for a 9-7 victory over Seattle in front of several scouts.

"That's a great way to go out," Appier said, aware the Royals have been looking to unload his $4.8 million salary.

"You love to have a great game any time, but if I were to leave, that would be a great way to leave."

After Seattle got a run on Brian Hunter's solo homer in the top of the fifth, Kansas City got three more runs in the bottom of the fifth.

"Appier did a great job," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "He threw a lot of fastballs, challenged them with his fastball. He threw some good changeups tonight. He stayed away from the splitter and threw strikes with his slider."

Fassero lost his fourth in a row and may also be traded before the midnight trade deadline on Saturday.

"I don't worry about that. Don't think about it at all," said the left-hander, who went 4 1-3 innings, giving up nine hits and six runs.

"Whatever is going to happen is going to happen."

The Mariners made a game of it in the ninth. They strung together six straight hits, scoring four runs. The Royals brought in Scott Service, who got John Mabry to hit a ground ball that went through first baseman Mike Sweeney's legs for an error as two more runs scored. Service then retired the last two batters, earning his sixth save, the most for the Royals this season.

"It's never easy," said Muser, who was trying to rest Service after using him three innings in 100-degree heat on Sunday.

"We didn't want to go to Service, but we had to win the game."

Appier has won eight straight home decisions against Seattle, improving his career record against the Marners to 12-3.

Kansas City led 9-2 going into the ninth, when Griffey hit a two-run homer off Ken Ray and pulled within four of Mark McGwire, the major league leader.

Kansas City took a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning, batting around against Fassero on a run-scoring wild pitch and RBI singles by Jeremy Giambi, Rey Sanchez and Johnny Damon.

Kansas City made it 7-1 in the fifth on Jermaine Dye's RBI triple, Giambi's run-scoring single off Ken Cloude followed by Griffey's run-scoring throwing error in center.

David Segui hit an RBI triple in the seventh, but Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer off Cloude in the bottom half.

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