The Seattle Mariners (32-39) had a lot to look forward to in Monday night's series opener against the Kansas City Royals. The Mariners just came off of a series win against the American League West-leading Houston Astros, and next up for the Mariners is King Felix.

Felix Hernandez has been exceptional at home this year, as expected, with a 6-3 record, 2.89 ERA. Most noticeably, batters are hitting only .188 off of him in Seattle. 

Things looked good for Seattle early as Hernandez had his usual 1-2-3 first inning. He got support from Robinson Cano's solo-HR in the bottom of the first, putting Seattle up 1-0 on Cano's third home run of the year. 

Unfortunately for Seattle, Joe Blanton continued his shocking restart to his career. Blanton retired from Major League Baseball last year after a few outings in the Minor Leagues with the Oakland Athletics, keeping him from making any appearances with the Athletics. 

Blanton has nine appearances with the Royals this year, two of which he started. He has compiled a 2-0 record and 1.73 ERA along with 24 strikeouts in 26.0 innings pitched. 

The Royals (40-27) continued to stay hot and build on their three-game lead in the top-heavy American League Central while knocking around King Felix for his season-worst nine hits. 

Alex Rios got KC on the board early, singling to center field to score Salvador Perez in the top of the second. Omar Infante came up next and singled a sharp line drive to left field that scored Rios. 

The Royals never looked back, scoring two more on Hernandez while the Mariners were held to only one more hit. Austin Jackson tried to get things going for the Mariners with a no-out double in the bottom of the seventh. The Mariners continued to struggle with runners in scoring position by striking out for the next two at-bats. 

Notes

Nelson Cruz left the game in the seventh inning after popping his pelvic bone out of place. The initial thought was that Cruz suffered a tight right hamstring injury.

"They got it popped back in and he is okay now; we'll see how he feels tomorrow," said Mariners manager Llyod McClendon.

W: Joe Blanton (2-0, 1.73)

L: Felix Hernandez (10-4 , 3.24)

SV: Greg Holland (14, 2.95)