KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The score was bad. How they got down by so much was worse. And they held their breath as the big man lumbered down the bases.

Snuffing out the possible added indignity of not only being shellacked 10-0 by the Royals, but also no-hit, well, that had to happen as soon as possible. So in the top of the seventh inning on a frigid night at Kauffman Stadium, the Mariners needed Daniel Vogelbach to be fast — something that he isn’t and never expected to be.

When Vogelbach’s hard ground ball up the middle was initially knocked down and nearly gloved behind second base by a diving Alcides Escobar, it seemed like it could be the traditional great play that saves a no-hitter.

But Escobar couldn’t quite get the ball and get to his feet to fire to first. He could only look at the ball on the ground as Vogelbach crossed first base. The no-hit bid of Jakob Junis had come to an end on an infield single by Vogelbach, which isn’t something you’d expect.

“I thought it was going to get through and then he made the dive,” Vogelbach said. “I saw it was in and out of his glove. It got through.”

How the no-hitter was broken up, despite being unexpected, didn’t matter. A No. 1 flashed on the scoreboard under the letter H for Seattle.

The Mariners wouldn’t be no-hit. At the very same time, the Royals had 12 under their hit tally, signaling the game had been over about three innings before.

Dee Gordon gave the Mariners their second hit in the eighth inning, but it felt secondary. Vogelbach’s infield single relieved all the pressure. Seattle had just two hits and was shut out for the first time this season.

“We didn’t do a whole lot offensively,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “They just beat us. We had a bad night tonight.”

It was just a few cold days before that Seattle put up 11 runs on 12 hits in a victory over the Twins. That same offense, minus injured first baseman Ryon Healy, was shut down by Junis and shut out by the Royals, who have recorded three shutouts as a team in the first eight games of the season.

The right-hander pitched seven innings, allowing the one hit with two walks and three strikeouts. The only ball hit crisply by the Mariners was Vogelbach’s single. Junis improved to 2-0 and hasn’t allowed a run in the combined 14 innings.

“He threw the ball well,” Servais said. “And he pitched well last year against us when we faced him.”

Indeed, on Aug. 6, Junis, then a rookie, pitched eight complete innings, allowing one run on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in a 9-1 victory over Seattle.

“He’s got a decent slider and uses the fastball to both sides,” Servais said. “He actually walked a few guys tonight, which he typically doesn’t do. He throws strikes, goes right after hitters. We didn’t get a whole lot of good swings at him. Not a ton going on offensively tonight.”

Meanwhile, Mariners starter Marco Gonzales produced quite the opposite outing. The young lefty struggled with command, leaving far too many pitches over the plate and elevated in the strike zone. Even the current Royals lineup, which has been weakened by payroll limitations and injuries and scored just six runs in the previous five games combined, was going to take advantage.

Kansas City banged out three consecutive hits to start the game, including a two-run double from Mike Moustakas. The Royals added another run on two more hits in the inning as Gonzales faced nine batters and threw 43 pitches.

“Going into the first, I didn’t have what I thought I was going to have,” he said. “I just tried to make adjustments and attack the zone. And when I was back in the zone, they tagged me on a few.”

Had he not struck out the No. 9 hitter, Drew Butera, for the final out of the first, Gonzales would have been out of the game.

“That was his last guy,” Servais said. “He did get through it. It’s a three-spot and you think you are still kind of in the game. We were going to remove him quickly after that.”

Gonzales made it through the second without allowing a run. But after giving up a single and double in the third to put Kansas City up 4-0, he lasted just one more batter, striking out Cam Gallagher.

“You dig yourself a hole pitch count-wise,” he said. “You’re trying to make quality pitches and get quick outs and it can snowball on you.”

The Royals hung five runs on his replacement, Casey Lawrence, in the fourth to put the game out of reach. Chasen Bradford gave the Mariners three scoreless innings of relief after Lawrence. But down 9-0 and no hits on the board, a rally of any sort was impossible.