--Dave Niehaus, the Mariners' Hall of Fame announcer, called his 5,000th Seattle game Wednesday night in Kansas City. Niehaus was the winner of the Ford Frick Award in 2008.
--RF Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5 Wednesday, giving him hits in 20 of his last 21 games against the Royals (39-for-84, .464). --Suzuki had drawn just one walk all season, an intentional one Sunday. That made Tuesday unusual. He drew unintentional walks from Texas RHP Vicente Padilla in consecutive at-bats in the fourth and sixth innings, the only walks Padilla allowed in the first six innings.
BY THE NUMBERS: 5-1 -- Mariners' record, through May 3, when 1B Russell Branyan had two or more hits in a game.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I thought being called up to the big leagues this first time was great. This is better." -- RHP Denny Stark, promoted from Class AAA Tacoma (Wash.) to Seattle Saturday (May 2) after having not pitched in the big leagues since 2005 because of back-to-back Tommy John surgeries.
