M's short on offense in game shortened by rain

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Knowing a heavy rainstorm was bearing down on Kansas City, Ned Yost made a few adjustments, such as employing late-game strategy in the third inning.

The Royals manager had Chris Getz lay down a sacrifice, something he almost never does so early, and two batters later Alex Gordon lashed a two-run double down the right-field line. Wilson Betemit also drove in two runs and Bruce Chen did the rest, pitching eight strong innings to help the Royals post a 5-1 rain-shortened victory over Seattle on Thursday night.

The game was called after a delay of 47 minutes in the bottom of the eighth.

Chen allowed six hits and walked one in his fourth career complete game and second in his last four starts dating to his final game last year. He improved to 4-0 against the Mariners and has won his last six decisions overall to even his career record at 50-50.

Gordon's double was off Doug Fister (0-3), and he scored on Billy Butler's single for a 3-0 lead. Betemit homered in the fourth and had a sacrifice fly in the sixth in front of a crowd of 8,811 - lower than Kansas City's smallest attendance at any game in 2010.

"They said it was going to (rain) about 8 to 8:30 and it did," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "We were still able to get deep in the ballgame. We had our opportunities, We just couldn't take advantage of them."

In Fister's three starts this season covering 18 2/3 innings, the Mariners have scored two runs. They have four or fewer runs in 10 of their last 11 games.

"If you throw 100 pitches, there's always going to be three or four that can cause turmoil in a game," Fister said. "They capitalized on some of my mistakes. I left a couple of balls too much over the plate that were high."