Royals end M's 8-game win streak in 11th inning

Royals 3, Mariners 2 (11 innings)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- On an eight-game winning streak as a bench coach, John McLaren lost in his debut as a major league manager.

After an intense and well pitched game, the 55-year-old rookie manager watched Emil Brown's 11th-inning sacrifice fly lead the Kansas City Royals over Seattle 3-2 Monday night.

"That was a pretty intense game, to be honest with you. A lot of things going on in it," said McLaren, who became manager following Mike Hargrove's shocking resignation Sunday. "It's been a whirlwind couple of days. It would have been nice to win tonight."

David DeJesus homered, doubled twice and scored the winning run for the Royals.

DeJesus doubled and scored in the first, and homered in the third. Then in the 11th, he doubled over right fielder Jose Guillen.

After Brandon Morrow (3-2) walked Esteban German, Mark Teahen laid down a sacrifice that moved DeJesus to third. Brown ended it with a fly ball to center.

Octavio Dotel (1-1) earned his first win for the Royals, striking out the side in the 11th in between two scratch singles.

"There was a lot of strategy involved in that game," McLaren said. "Our guys did a good job. We just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it."

He also had another worry. First baseman Richie Sexson left the game in the ninth after bruising his thumb.

"Richie's thumb is really sore," he said. "We'll have to check on him. I haven't got the latest update on him, but for him to come out of the game you know it's got to be pretty sore."

Guillen started in on DeJesus' 11th-inning drive and could not get back in time.

"That ball just jumped of his bat like he's one of those power hitters. It's amazing the way the ball jumped off his bat," Guillen said. "I should have got a better read on that ball. You think you got it, and the last minute it just keeps going up. I just misplayed it."

Kansas City had the potential winning run on third in both the ninth and 10th but Brown and Alex Gordon struck out to end the ninth and Joey Gathright struck out for the third out in the 10th.

"We need to be more aggressive in those situations," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "I think we tend to be too particular with our strike zone. And we just have to be more aggressive. The problem with a young team a lot of times is that they don't quite understand that the pitchers the one that's in trouble. The hitters not the one in trouble."

DeJesus' home run was his fifth of the year but first in 247 at-bats.

"Today was a good day," he said. "In the first inning, I just wanted to get some momentum going. Definitely getting on base three times and scoring three times was the key to our win."

Seattle starter Felix Hernandez gave up two runs and five hits in eight innings. He struck out five and allowed only one walk for the sixth time in seven starts.

Guillen, who hit a tying home run in Hargrove's emotional finale Sunday and then won it with an RBI single in the ninth, handed Hernandez a first-inning lead with a two-run single that scored Jose Vidro and Raul Ibanez. But the Mariners did not get a runner past second the rest of the night.

Kansas City starter Gil Meche, a former Mariner who was selected for the All-Star team on Sunday, then gave up a single to Sexon and faced runners at first and second with only one out. But he got out of the inning and allowed only two singles and one walk from that point on until walking Yuniesky Betancourt with one out in the seventh and giving way to reliever Jimmy Gobble.

Meche gave up two runs, five hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out one -- his first outing this year with fewer than three.

Game notes
Bell, a good friend of Hargrove, was saddened to hear of his departure. "I know how much he cares about the players and cares about his job and cares about seeing it through," Bell said. "Unfortunately a lot of managers can't see their job all the way through." ... Ibanez returned to left field after missing six games with a strained left hamstring.