SEATTLE -- Hisashi Iwakuma threw eight scoreless innings Thursday in his second start of the season as the surging Mariners topped the Royals, 1-0, in the opener of a seven-game homestand at Safeco Field.Iwakuma improved to 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA after missing all of spring and the first five weeks of the regular season with a torn tendon in his right middle finger.The 2013 American League All-Star allowed just four singles with no walks and seven strikeouts before Fernando Rodney closed things out with his 10th save despite walking two in the ninth. 
Iwakuma has started twice now against the Royals in his three years with the Mariners and is yet to allow a run in 16 innings. He went eight scoreless with nine strikeouts and four hits last year on Sept. 25 and nearly duplicated that with Thursday's outing.The Mariners managed just two hits all night, but made them count as they bunched both in the third inning when they got their lone run.Designated hitter Corey Hart's RBI single up the middle accounted for the game-winner after Royals lefty Danny Duffy had intentionally walked Robinson Cano. Mike Zunino led off the frame with a double off the base of the wall in left-center, then was sacrificed to third by Michael Saunders and scored on Hart's two-out base hit.Of Hart's 14 RBIs on the season, five have given Seattle a lead, second most on the team behind Cano's six.Cano has been walked intentionally six times, third in the AL behind Prince Fielder (10) and Victor Martinez (seven).The Mariners managed just two hits in six-plus innings against Duffy, who was making his second start of the season in place of the injured Bruce Chen.The Mariners have gone 11-3 since snapping an eight-game losing streak on April 23, pulling themselves back into contention in the AL West with an 18-16 record.Greg Johns / MLB.com
Iwakuma has started twice now against the Royals in his three years with the Mariners and is yet to allow a run in 16 innings. He went eight scoreless with nine strikeouts and four hits last year on Sept. 25 and nearly duplicated that with Thursday's outing.The Mariners managed just two hits all night, but made them count as they bunched both in the third inning when they got their lone run.Designated hitter Corey Hart's RBI single up the middle accounted for the game-winner after Royals lefty Danny Duffy had intentionally walked Robinson Cano. Mike Zunino led off the frame with a double off the base of the wall in left-center, then was sacrificed to third by Michael Saunders and scored on Hart's two-out base hit.Of Hart's 14 RBIs on the season, five have given Seattle a lead, second most on the team behind Cano's six.Cano has been walked intentionally six times, third in the AL behind Prince Fielder (10) and Victor Martinez (seven).The Mariners managed just two hits in six-plus innings against Duffy, who was making his second start of the season in place of the injured Bruce Chen.The Mariners have gone 11-3 since snapping an eight-game losing streak on April 23, pulling themselves back into contention in the AL West with an 18-16 record.Greg Johns / MLB.com
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