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Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kansas City 8, Seattle 7
When: 8:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 103°
Umpires: Home - Jim Joyce, 1B - Mike DiMuro, 2B - Jim Reynolds, 3B - James Hoye
Attendance: 17312


Royals 8, Mariners 7: All-Star Billy Butler led off the ninth inning with a walk-off home run as host Kansas City won for just the second time in nine games.

Lorenzo Cain belted a two-run shot and Alex Gordon collected three hits and two RBIs for the Royals, who improved to 2-4 on their 10-game homestand.

After Kansas City opened a 7-3 lead, Seattle battled back to forge a tie with one run in the sixth and three in the seventh. The contest remained even until Butler, who finished 3-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, deposited a 1-1 offering from Josh Kinney (0-1) over the wall in left-center field for his 18th blast of the season.

The homer made a winner of Greg Holland (4-2), who tossed a perfect top of the ninth.

Kyle Seager opened the scoring in the second with a two-out solo homer, but Chris Getz capped a three-run rally for Kansas City in the bottom of the frame with an RBI bunt single. After Casper Wells' two-run blast in the fourth knotted the game at 3-3, Gordon hit a two-run double in the bottom half and Cain launched his second homer in as many nights an inning later for a 7-3 advantage.

Miguel Olivo began Seattle's comeback in the sixth with an RBI single and Jesus Montero cut the deficit to one with a two-run base hit in the seventh. Two batters later, Seager delivered an RBI double, giving him a major league-leading 33 two-out RBIs.

Wells and Ichiro Suzuki had three hits apiece for the Mariners, who have scored 25 runs over the first three games of the four-game series.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Seattle LHP Charlie Furbush was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left triceps, which he suffered in Tuesday's victory. RHP Steve Delabar was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, one day after being sent down, to fill the roster spot. ... Kansas City LHP Ryan Verdugo was optioned to Triple-A Omaha one day after allowing six runs over 1 2/3 innings in his major-league debut. Fellow LHP Will Smith was recalled and will start Thursday's series finale. ... The Royals were one of six teams that won a draft pick following the first round next year in a competitive balance lottery. Kansas City actually was the big winner of the lottery, capturing the first pick in the drawing.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Seattle   Kansas City
Kevin Millwood Player Bruce Chen
No Decision W/L No Decision
5.0 IP 5.1
2 Strikeouts 6
10 Hits 7
12.60 ERA 6.75
Hitting
Seattle   Kansas City
Casper Wells Player Billy Butler
3 Hits 3
2 RBI 1
1 HR 1
6 TB 6
.600 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Seattle 14 2 23 .341 16 10 7 1 0 0
Kansas City 14 2 24 .378 16 2 8 3 0 1