Mariners Storm To 18-5 Royal Romp

Even when the Seattle Mariners were 16 games behind first-place Anaheim on July 1, they thought they could get back in the AL West race.

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"We're playing much better baseball right now," manager Lou Piniella said after the Mariners used a season-high 22 hits to rout Kansas City 18-5 Friday night for their fifth straight victory.

Alex Rodriguez, Dan wilson and Jay Buhner homered as last-place Seattle cut its deficit behind the Angels, who lost to Baltimore 4-1 Friday night, to nine games.

Wilson went 3-for-4 with a career-best six RBIs, David Segui was 4-for-5 and scored four runs and Rodriguez went 4-for-6 for Seattle, which also had a season-high in runs.

"It's nice," Wilson said of his six RBIs. But in a game like this it kind of gets overlooked because there were so many runs scored."

The Mariners' winning streak is their longest since they won six in a row April 15-20.

"The offense is coming around," Wilson said.

"It was a combination of poor pitching and real good hitting," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "They have a very good lineup. I think it's similar to the New York Yankees when they get rolling."

Seattle starter Bill Swift (9-5) gave up three runs in the first inning, but took advantage of the Mariners' offensive outburst to get his seventh win in nine decisions. He allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings.

"I pitched terrible. I just pitched a bad game," Swift said. "Tonight, it was strictly our offense. We really came out swinging."

Glenon Rusch (6-11) lost for the third time in four starts, giving up six runs and six hits in two innings. Things got so desperate for the Royals that they used infielder Shane Halter to pitch the eighth inning.

"I don't blame 'em," Piniella said. "They pitched a lot of people tonight."

Halter, who hit a home run off Randy Johnson in 1997, pitched an inning for Triple-A Omaha in 1996.

"It's not one of those games you want to be pitching because it means you're getting crushed," Halter said.

It may have seemed like a lot to Piniella, but actually the Royals used three pitchers -- Rusch, Jim Pittsley and Chris Haney -- before going to Halter.

The Mariners took a 6-3 lead with five runs in the second as Rodriguez hit his 28th homer, a three-run shot that was his first homer in 16 games.

They made it 9-3 in the third when Wilson hit a three-run homer and expanded their lead to 11-3 in the fourth on Buhner's two-run homer.

Wilson added a sacrifice fly in the sixth and had a two-run single in the seventh.

Jeff King hit his 19th homer in the fifth for the Royals.

Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr., who leads the AL with 39 homers, was 0-for-3 with a walk before being pulled after five innings.

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