Ty France homers, Bryan Woo picks up his first win and the Mariners beat the Royals 4-2

SEATTLE (AP) — Ty France homered for the second time in three games, Bryan Woo allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings for his first win and the Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Wednesday.

The Mariners took two of three from the Royals and have won eight of their last nine series. Seattle will head out on a key 10-game road trip on the East Coast four games above .500 and leading the AL West.

France hit a solo shot off Kansas City starter Alec Marsh in the fourth inning to give Seattle a 2-0 lead. France also homered on Monday in the series opener.

Seattle also got an unearned run in the second inning after Adam Frazier was unable to cleanly field Luis Urías’ grounder behind third base with the bases loaded, and the Mariners added on two key runs late. Josh Rojas had a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning and Luke Raley added an RBI single in the eighth.

Woo (1-0) cruised through the first five innings allowing only one hit, before running into a jam in the sixth inning. Woo had a long fifth inning in the dugout due to an umpire change between the top and bottom of the inning, as home plate umpire Jim Wolf was replaced for precautionary reasons after taking a foul ball off the facemask.

When Woo returned for the sixth, he wasn’t as sharp and immediately ran into trouble with two singles and a walk. Bobby Witt Jr. delivered a sacrifice fly to score Freddy Fermin, but reliever Gabe Speier ended the threat by getting a foul pop out from Vinny Pasquantino and struck out Salvador Perez to end the inning.

Witt also had an RBI groundout in the eighth that scored Fermin. Andrés Muñoz got the final five outs for his seventh save, pitching around an error by Urías in the ninth.

Woo struck out five and walked only one. His first start of the season last Friday had been cut short due to tightness in his right forearm following a long inning in the dugout.

Marsh (3-1) allowed just one earned run but took his first loss of the season. He struck out seven and has allowed just two earned runs in his past four starts combined.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: 2B Jorge Polanco (hamstring) and DH Mitch Garver (back) were out of the lineup for a second straight day. Both could return Friday in Baltimore.

UP NEXT

Both teams are off on Thursday. The Royals return home to open a three-game series with Oakland on Friday, while Seattle starts a 10-game road trip in Baltimore on Friday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb