Mariners vs Royals : 4 - 1

After coming down with a bad case of the flu, Raul Ibanez still felt a little weak Monday. So the veteran changed his approach, much to the Seattle Mariners' benefit. Ibanez had three hits, including a two-run single, and Gil Meche allowed one run and four hits in seven innings to lift Seattle to a 4-1 win over Kansas City. Jose Lopez added a pair of doubles, and his two-out shot off the wall in left in the eighth inning scored Yuniesky Bentancourt to give Seattle a 3-1 lead. Richie Sexson followed with a single to score Lopez.

Seattle Mariners second baseman Jose Lopez (4) reaches to tag out Kansas City Royals' David DeJesus as DeJesus attempts to steal second in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 5, 2006, in Seattle.

Meanwhile, Meche broke a two-game losing streak and denied the lowly Royals a chance to finish their longest road trip of the season at .500. Kansas City went 4-6 on its 10-game trip, after winning two of its first 20 road games this season. Seattle took three of four in the series. In seven of his last nine starts, Meche (5-4) has allowed three earned runs or less. He struck out six and walked two. J.J. Putz pitched the ninth for his eighth save in nine attempts.

While Meche was solid, Seattle's best pitching came from reliever Rafael Soriano in the eighth. Lefty George Sherrill took over for Meche to start the inning, but walked David DeJesus. Soriano entered and struck out Tony Graffanino, Doug Mientkiewicz and Reggie Sanders on 13 pitches. Soriano sprinted off the field, leaping over the first-base line. Kansas City starter Mike Wood (3-1) joined the rotation after the Royals' moved struggling right-hander Denny Bautista to the bullpen over the weekend. Making his second start of the season, Wood looked the part of a seasoned starter, scattering four hits through five innings and allowed only one base runner past first. Ibanez was stranded at third in the second inning.

Seattle finally got to Wood in the sixth and knocked the righty from the game. Ichiro Suzuki doubled on the first pitch of the inning. He was thrown out at third trying to advance on Adrian Beltre's grounder to short, but Lopez followed with a double to left, and Bell pulled Wood. Lefty Jimmy Gobble entered to face the left-handed Ibanez. Gobble fell behind 3-1 before Ibanez grounded a single to center scoring Beltre and Lopez. Left-handers had been hitting .176 against Gobble. The Royals put together a brief rally in the seventh, with consecutive singles by Matt Stairs and Shane Costa. Stairs scored on Mark Teahen's groundout to second -- a sliding stop by Lopez -- and Meche got out of the inning with a pop out by Angel Berroa and a strikeout of John Buck. Despite the loss, the Royals believe the road trip overall was a positive step.