Joakim Soria said he felt fine and insisted that his right shoulder was not sore. But his performance was anything but smooth Thursday.
The Royals closer earned his seventh save in as many chances, but not before allowing a run on two hits and two walks in a 3-1 victory over the Mariners. Soria had been shut down for nine days with a sore right shoulder in late April before earning consecutive saves at Minnesota.
"I would say it's that (rust)," Soria said of his shaky outing.
Manager Trey Hillman agreed.
"That (rust) is exactly what I would attribute it to," Hillman said. "Everybody is so used to him coming in and doing it on nine or 10 pitches and 1-2-3. He's had some inconsistency, so I would say that's exactly what it is: rust."
Soria threw 29 pitches, only 13 for strikes, before getting Ichiro Suzuki to ground out to end the game with the bases loaded.
"I just finished talking to him and he feels fine," Hillman said. "At this point, the answer is no (concern physically). We'll see how his body reacts (Friday)."
Hillman acknowledged there is a fine line he must walk. He must not use Soria too much because of previous soreness, yet he does not want to rest him too much because he wants to keep him sharp.
"I won't deny it is challenging, but it is what it is right now. You've got to deal with it," Hillman said. "I'll try to do as good a job as I can monitoring it and at the same time trying to keep him consistent."
ROYALS 3, MARINERS 1: Brian Bannister allowed five hits and no runs in six innings while striking out seven and walking one. He picked up his third victory in four starts since his April 21 promotion.
The Royals used two sacrifice bunts to manufacture runs in the fifth and eighth innings. Mike Aviles and Billy Butler each singled in runs. Coco Crisp manufactured the other run with a two-out double, stole third and scored on an error.
