THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Big stretch continues for 'motivated' Mariners

Kansas City is known as “The City of Fountains.”

For six innings Thursday afternoon, you could make a case that the entire Mariners roster should be tossed into any one of them.

If ever a team deserved to be heaved over the side for a long and unpleasant gurgling, Seattle seemed to have assembled it.

Let’s see …

They had left 10 runners stranded and had three more thrown out on the bases — yes, though just those SIX innings — and trailed the bottom-feeding Royals 4-2 in the finale of a wild four-game series.

It could have been just 3-2, but shortstop Jose Caballero whiffed on a swipe tag that allowed the fourth run to score just seconds after that inning-ending rundown.

Oh, and the seventh inning was worth a fountain dunking for Dylan Moore, whose shallow fly to left was dropped by MJ Melendez.

Moore, however, didn’t notice the fumble or the umpire’s signal, and began walking back to the dugout from first base.

He was automatically out, and it seemed that soon enough, the Mariners would join him on an unpleasant flight to Houston for their weekend series against the Astros.

HOWEVER …

Comma …

Unlike Elvis, Julio Rodriguez had not left the building.

Ironically, the Mariners’ magic man had suffered a gaffe of his own in the early innings — daydreaming at first base and getting easily picked off (like a character from the “Bad News Bears”) by Royals starter Angel Zerpa.

Julio obviously was not deterred by that unfortunate loss of concentration.

Not, ah, in the least.

Where to start?

Recall that he had four hits, including a critical RBI single in the ninth inning, to punctuate Wednesday night’s 6-4 victory.

“We're motivated,” Rodríguez said after that game, in which he also stole his 29th and 30th bases.

“We know that there is some work to do, and we know that we've got to close that out — that it's not just going to happen, that we've got to do it.

“We cannot stay complacent.”

It’s safe to say he did not.

Julio singled in his first three at-bats on Thursday, driving in one run, then doubled on a screamer over the head of Melendez in left — pushing home another run.

And finally came the kill shot.

With two on and one out in eighth, Seattle still down 4-2, Royals manager Matt Quatraro called on flame thrower Carlos Hernandez to face Julio.

The confrontation only lasted a couple of seconds.

Hernandez fired a 97-mph heater that wound up middle-to-inside, and the result was an explosion.

Julio’s 20th home run took off at 111 mph and very quickly crashed into the left-field seats, 438 feet away.

Besides being his fifth hit (and ninth in two games, best in all of MLB this year), it made him only the second player in major league history to record at least 20 homers and 20 steals in each of his first two seasons.

The only other player to accomplish it, Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., got to watch Julio’s blast from a (more or less) close-up position.

Cal Raleigh, who had gotten most of the day off, pinch hit in the top of the ninth and hammered a solo homer to right, handing Matt Brash a 6-4 lead to protect.

GIVEN all the late-inning craziness of this four-game series, and the fact that Brash was working back-to-back ninth innings (and three games of the past four), Scott Servais likely was holding his breath.

But just like Isaiah Campbell in the seventh and Trent Thornton in the eighth, Brash worked a surprisingly routine final inning — even finishing up a 1-2-3 effort by getting Witt Jr. on a weak ground ball.

“Matt was terrific, and he earned a night off in Houston, no matter what happens tomorrow,” Servais said of his co-closer (with Andres Munoz).

Rodriguez was thrilled with the outcome, but admitted this visit to Kansas City was no walk in the park.

“They played us tough in every game, and we had to find a little extra,” he said.

Julio’s “extra,” in fact, was a 12-for-21 line over the four games, with 11 runs driven in and three steals.

“When he’s doing his thing, the whole team responds,” Servais said.

“That’s the kind of electricity he brings to the group. He’s just a special, special kind of player, and he can carry a team.

“We must be getting pretty heavy by now.”

The Mariners now continue a 16-game stretch that they hope can push them into a wild-card position they hope to hold.

They play three in Houston, three against the White Sox in Chicago — then return to T-Mobile for three-game series with the Royals (sigh!) and Oakland to close out August.

There were stretches in The City of Fountains when the Mariners looked as though their playoff hopes would drown.

They can’t bumble around the way they did for six-plus innings on Thursday.

Still …

As Thursday’s starter Geroge Kirby put it: “Thank God for Julio.”

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”