THE JAPAN NEWS

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seattle has struggled to win on the road over the last month, losing 10 straight capped by a ninth-inning meltdown in the Mariners’ series-opener against the Kansas City Royals.
Some strong pitching and a bit of fortune helped them break their long road skid Friday night.

Hisashi Iwakuma pitched into the seventh inning, Seattle scored the go-ahead runs on Yordano Ventura’s wild pitch and the Mariners held on to beat the World Series champions 3-1 to even the four-game set.
Iwakuma (9-6) allowed one run, five hits and three walks over 6⅔ innings, striking out six. He kept the Royals off balance with his usual herky-jerky delivery, the only run he allowed coming on Cheslor Cuthbert’s base hit in the fourth inning.

“Overall I was able to make good pitches, location-wise, and execute when I needed to, change speeds, go back and forth,” Iwakuma said through an interpreter. “Especially with the breaking ball, I was able to go from strike to ball and they were chasing those pitches and it made it very helpful from my end.”

Steve Cishek, who blew the save the previous night, allowed Salvador Perez’s homer in the ninth before finishing off the inning. It was his 21st save of the season.

“Yesterday was tough. I felt really good yesterday. It’s just baseball,” he said. “I wanted a chance to go back out there and, if I had the chance, give the team the win to make up for it. It got a little sketchy there. I didn’t think he hit it that well, but, you know, I was able to finish it off.”

Ventura (6-6) was nearly as stingy as Iwakuma, giving up only a sacrifice fly to Ketel Marte in the fifth, before things unraveled for him after Seth Smith’s single and Robinson Cano’s double in the sixth.

A Ventura pitch to Nelson Cruz got past Perez and bounded away, allowing Smith to score from third base and tie the game 1-all. Perez threw the ball away trying to get him out at the plate, allowing Cano to also score — the star catcher was given an error on the play.
Strasburg remains unbeaten

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Strasburg stayed undefeated, winning a marquee pitching matchup against an ailing Noah Syndergaard by tossing seven innings of two-hit ball Friday night that sent the Washington Nationals to a 3-1 victory over the banged-up New York Mets.

Strasburg (12-0) struck out nine and became the first National League pitcher in 104 years to win his first 12 decisions in a season.
Jonathan Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth for his 18th save.

Syndergaard (9-4) and slugger Yoenis Cespedes left early with injuries — hours after New York announced that struggling pitcher Matt Harvey will have season-ending surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.