Junis carries no-no into seventh, Royals rout Mariners 10-0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ned Yost thought Jakob Junis was starting to labor in the fifth inning Monday night, so he turned to bench coach Dale Sveum and promised to pull the young Royals right-hander if it continued.

Laboring? He was throwing a no-hitter.

“Dale thought I was kidding,” Yost said, “but I honestly had no idea.”

Junis had hit three batters and walked two more, but he did not allow a hit until one out in the seventh inning.

By that point, the Royals were well on their way to a 10-0 rout of the Seattle Mariners to open their three-game series at cold, windy Kauffman Stadium.

“I was paying attention to the score, but I wasn’t paying attention to how many hits they had,” Yost said. “I looked up and saw he had a no-hitter and I was completely oblivious to it.”

So, what would have happened if Yost trotted to the mound to make a change?

“I would have had to tell him to go back,” Junis replied.

After Junis (2-0) finally allowed a hit to longtime friend Daniel Vogelbach, he finished up the seventh without any more trouble, running his scoreless streak to 14 innings to start the season.

“He was just kind of in a groove,” Vogelbach said. “You’ve got to give him credit. Sometimes pitchers are on and he pitched well tonight. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Junis was given a standing ovation when his night was done by the announced crowd of 12,324, most of whom quickly filed out with temperatures just above freezing.

Everybody in the Royals lineup but Drew Butera scored off Marco Gonzales (1-1) and the Mariners bullpen, and all the catcher had done was drive in a couple of runs. Things got so ugly that Seattle had infielder Tyler Motter pitch the eighth and Mike Moustakas promptly took him deep.