Stephen Kolek pitches a CGSO, Royals beat Mariners 5-0

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MAY 23: Starting pitcher Stephen Kolek #32 of the Kansas City Royals pitches during the 1st inning of the game against the Seattle Mariners at Kauffman Stadium on May 23, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images In today’s game thread, I wrote that Stephen Kolek’s second-best career start probably came against the Mariners last September, and we might need him to do even better if they were going to win today. As it turned out, they probably didn’t need him to be quite that good, but he absolutely was anyway.

Things got started fast for the Royals today. Stephen Kolek retired the Mariners in order on 10 pitches to start the game. Then, on the second pitch he saw, Maikel Garcia tattooed a line drive into the left-center gap for a leadoff double.

Bobby Witt Jr. got an infield single that sent Maikel to third, and then Maikel scored on a groundball from Vinnie Pasquantino that was only ever likely to be worth one out, but became none when J. P.

Crawford couldn’t hang on to Cole Young’s glove flip at second. Salvador Perez came to the plate, and Bobby and Vinnie each took off on the first pitch, successfully swiping their bags and giving the Royals second and third with no one out. This is where you’d expect the Royals to completely choke, and it looked like that’s exactly what was going to happen.