Pinch hitter Lane Thomas’ run-scoring single with one out in the eighth inning broke a tie as the Kansas City Royals defeated the host Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Friday, overcoming a pair of two-run homers by Julio Rodriguez.

Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone went deep for the Royals, who won for just the fourth time in 16 road games this season. By taking the opener of a three-game series, Kansas City stopped a mini two-game skid.

Connor Joe and Randy Arozarena also homered for Seattle, which had won six of its previous seven games.

Royals reliever Daniel Lynch IV (1-0) got the victory despite allowing two runs in his lone inning. Lucas Erceg worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save of the season.

With the score tied at 6-all, Kansas City’s Salvador Perez led off the eighth with a double to left field, his second of the game. Perez advanced to third on Carter Jensen’s groundout and scored as Thomas hit a looping liner to right-center off Mariners reliever Jose A. Ferrer (0-1).

The Royals’ Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Pasquantino began the game with singles, with Pasquantino driving in the opening run. Perez followed with a two-run double to right to make it 3-0. With two outs, Isaac Collins doubled off the glove of third baseman Leo Rivas, scoring Perez.

The Mariners’ halved their deficit in the bottom half of the frame. J.P. Crawford drew a leadoff walk, and an out later, Rodriguez went deep into the second deck in left field.

Seattle pulled within 4-3 in the fifth when Joe hit a leadoff homer to left.

Pasquantino led off the sixth with a liner off the facade of the second deck in right field. Two outs later, Caglianone hit a high drive that just cleared the fence in the right field corner to give the Royals a 6-3 advantage.

Arozarena went deep to right with one out in the bottom of the inning.

In the seventh, Crawford singled and Rodriguez homered to straightaway center with two outs to tie it at 6-all.

Both starting pitchers struggled to keep the ball in the yard.

Royals left-hander Cole Ragans went 5 1/3 innings and gave up four runs on four hits, including three homers. He walked three and struck out eight.

Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo struggled early, allowing four runs in the first inning, then settled down to retire 13 consecutive batters before giving up the two solo shots in the sixth. Woo went six innings and allowed six runs on seven hits, with no walks and two strikeouts.

–Field Level Media

LeBron James scored 18 of his 28 points in a runaway first half for the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, who cruised to a 98-78 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday and claimed their Western Conference first-round playoff series in six games.

By virtue of the 4-2 series victory, the Lakers advance to the Western Conference semifinals and will travel to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder for Game 1 on Tuesday.

James added seven rebounds and eight assists to his ledger. Teammate Rui Hachimura put up 21 points, hitting 5 of 7 from the 3-point arc. Austin Reaves, who started for the first time in the series, added 15 points for the Lakers.

Undermined by turnovers throughout the series, the Lakers committed just 11 giveaways while limiting Houston to 35% shooting. Alperen Sengun paired 17 points with 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who played without leading scorer Kevin Durant for the fifth time in the series. Houston finished 5 of 28 (17.9%) from deep.

Raptors 112, Cavaliers 110 (OT)

RJ Barrett made a dramatic 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in overtime as Toronto defeated visiting Cleveland to force Game 7 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Barrett’s bucket from straight away hit the back of the rim, bounced high into the air and fell in between the mesh. Scottie Barnes had 25 points and 14 assists for the Raptors. Barrett finished with 24 points, as did Ja’Kobe Walter.

Evan Mobley had 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who will play host to the deciding game on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell added 24 points, and James Harden had 16 points, nine assists and nine rebounds.

Pistons 93, Magic 79

Cade Cunningham scored 32 points as Detroit came back from a 24-point deficit to stun host Orlando and force a decisive Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

The top-seeded Pistons began the fourth quarter on an 18-1 run to build an eight-point lead and ended up outscoring Orlando 55-19 in the second half. The eighth-seeded Magic missed 23 consecutive shots from the field during one stretch covering about 15 minutes in the second half.

Desmond Bane and Paolo Banchero each scored 17 points for Orlando, which was held to 12 points over the first 19 minutes of the second half as Detroit pulled ahead at 74-72 more than seven minutes to play after trailing by 22 at the half.

–Field Level Media

Rhys Hoskins homered, doubled and drove in three runs and Chase DeLauter went 4-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Cleveland Guardians to an 8-5 victory over the Athletics on Friday night at West Sacramento, Calif.

Steven Kwan reached base three times on two hits and a walk and made a stellar catch that saved three runs for the Guardians. Bo Naylor also had two hits as Cleveland won its second straight contest following a four-game skid.

Cade Smith retired the final four batters for his eighth save.

Brent Rooker went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs for the Athletics, who lost for just the fourth time in 10 games. Jeff McNeil also had two hits for the A’s.

Nick Kurtz went 0-for-4 but drew a walk in the seventh to reach base for the 26th straight game. He has walked in 20 straight games, tying Barry Bonds (2002-03) of the San Francisco Giants for second in major league history. Roy Cullenbine (22) of the 1947 Detroit Tigers holds the record.

Cleveland scored three runs in the fifth to take the lead for good.

Kwan, DeLauter and Kyle Manzardo drew walks off J.T. Ginn (0-1) to load the bases with one out. Hoskins came up and sent a two-run double to right-center to knot the score at 4.

Hogan Harris entered and allowed a sacrifice fly to pinch hitter Angel Martinez to score Manzardo.

In the seventh, Hoskins drilled a one-out homer to left off Justin Sterner to make it 6-4.

Later in the inning, Naylor and Brayan Rocchio hit back-to-back RBI doubles for an 8-4 lead.

The Athletics scored in the bottom of the seventh on Rooker’s bases-loaded RBI single.

Erik Sabrowski (1-1) entered and struck out consecutive batters before Colby Thomas ripped a shot into the gap in left-center. Kwan, who won his fourth straight Gold Glove last season, dashed from center into the alley and made a leaping grab at the wall to end the inning.

The A’s had runners on first and third in the eighth before Connor Brogdon struck out Shea Langeliers and Smith entered and fanned Kurtz to end the inning.

The Athletics took the lead in the first when Rooker slammed a two-out, two-run blast over the wall in left-center off Joey Cantillo.

The Guardians tied the score in the second on DeLauter’s two-out, two-run double.

Zack Gelof hit a bases-loaded two-run single in the fourth to give the Athletics a 4-2 edge.

Ginn gave up five runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked five and struck out four.

Cantillo allowed four runs and five hits over four innings. He walked three and fanned two.

–Field Level Media