Luke French, the 23-year-old left-handed pitcher who came to Seattle in the Jarrod Washgburn trade, will make the sixth start of his major league career tonight - and his first as a Mariner.

Oddly enough, he'll face a Kansas City team he beat July 8, 3-1, as a member of the Detroit Tigers.

French will be pitching to Rob Johnson, the preferred catcher of your Seattle Mariners, and backed by a bullpen without the services of David Aardsma tonight.

That bullpen may further be weakened emotionally by an edict from MLB's dunderhead department - who have banned the relievers from taking their beloved battle helmet replicas to the bullpen.

Yeah, that'll save the integrity of the game.

It's French vs. Kyle Davies.

Life on the edge

The Royals loaded the bases against French in the second inning with a bloop single, an infield single and a walk to - gasp! - Yuniesky Betancourt.

French got the No. 9 hitter on a grounder to end the inning. The Mariners offense, meanwhile, has gone down 1-2-3-4-5-6.

Mariners score first

The bottom of the Seattle lineup shocked the Royals when Johnson doubled and, batting ninth, rookie Michael Saunders tripled him home.

With the infield in, Ichiro struck out, but Russell Branyan singled Saunders home - his 59th RBI of the season.

In the third: Mariners 2, Royals 0

That ties it!

Willie Bloomquist singled to right and Billy Butler hit his 12th home run of the season to tie the game.

After three: Mariners 2, Royals 2

Small ball Mariners

Adrian Beltre and Franklin Gutierrez singled, putting runners on first and third base with one out, and Jack Wilson dropped a safety squeeze bunt for a hit and his first RBI in a Seattle uniform.

Davies threw the ball into center field on a pick off attempt, pushing Gutierrez to third base - then wild-pitched him home.

Ichiro singled Wilson home and Branyan doubled home both base runners, giving him five RBI the last two nights. After a pitching change, Jose Lopez singled home a run and the Mariners had a six-run rally.

In the fourth: Mariners 8, Royals 2

Oops and oops again

Miguel Olivo hit a long, catchable fly ball that Gutierrez lost and Ichiro - after calling for it - simply missed. Olivo was granted a triple, and Alex Gordon followed with a home run.

After four: Mariners 8, Royals 4

Adding on

French pitched a strong fifth inning, and in the sixth Johnson drew a walk and, with one out, Ichiro bunted for a single, moving Johnson to third base.

Ichiro stole second - his 23rd steal of the season - and with two outs, Lopez singled Johnson and Ichiro home.

In the sixth: Mariners 10, Royals 4

Someone get outs, please!

The Mariners pulled French after five innings and 89 pitches, then hoped to get a couple of innings from Miguel Batista.

Instead, they got two outs, and Batista allowed one run and loaded the bases - forcing Wakamatsu to go to Sean White.

White bailed him out.

After six: Mariners 10, Royals 5

Adding on II

Wonder why the Royals are dead last in the American League? Wonder no more.

With one out, Wilson doubled. Johnson singled, with Wilson stopping at third. Catcher Olivo threw to second to try and catch Johnson there, and Betancourt threw back to Olivo trying to catch Wilson there.

Both throws were late - and Johnson advanced to third, on a single and two bad throws.

Even the official scorer was dizzy.

In the seventh: Mariners 11, Royals 5

And in the end

Sixteen hits, 11 runs - and a five-run lead. Without Aardsma, could the Mariners close out their 56th victory and pull within eight games of the Los Angeles Angels?

Well, duh.
Garrett Olson walked the first batter he faced, but got through it without allowing a run.

It's a final: Mariners 11, Royals 6

Closer David Aardsma won't be available tonight in Kansas City because a boil on his butt has done what hitters usually can't - knocked him out of the game.

The boil has been bothering Aardsma for days, but Wednesday it reached the point where the pain of sitting, moving, even dressing it was agonizing, so Aardsma had it lanced.

his Seattle Mariners teammates were supportive and sympathetic - they gathered round him to take photos of the boil with their cell phones.

"He's day-to-day," manager Don Wakamatsu said.

What causes a boil? Among other things, an ingrown hair can do you in. With a little luck, Aardsma and his repaired bum will be ready to return to the mound tomorrow.

Roy Corcoran, the veteran right-handed reliever who didn't think the Seattle Mariners saw him in their future, has signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros.

Corcoran, 29, was designated for assignment 12 days ago and - after clearing waivers - declined an assignment to Tacoma and became a free agent.

Now, he'll report to the Astros AAA Round Rock team and begin what he hopes will be a comeback to the big leagues. Oddly enough, Corcoran will join the team tomorrow - when they're playing the Tacoma Rainiers.

There probably wasn't a more affable or popular player in the Seattle clubhouse, something the new coaching staff learned in spring training.

"We'd bring guys in for one-on-one conversations, to get to know them, and one of the things we'd always ask is 'Who's your best friend on the team?'" manager Don Wakamatsu said. "An awful lot of guys said 'Roy Corcoran.'"

Here's hoping is time in Houston works out as well.

Jarrod Washburn made his debut last night in Detroit and it wasn't one of his best outings. He pitched 5 1/3 innings allowing six runs on six hits, including two homers, while walking three.

“I was terrible,” Washburn said. “No excuses. I didn’t do my job. I didn’t have command.”

But manager Tigers Jim Leyland says he isn't worried about Washburn.

Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp says the Tigers gave Washburn no run support like the rest of their pitchers. If there is one pitcher that knows something about getting no run support it would be Washburn.