Seattle ? Ichiro Suzuki homered for his 200th hit of the season, but Abraham Nunez hit his second grand slam in two weeks, leading the Kansas City Royals over the Seattle Mariners, 7-3, Thursday night.

Suzuki became the first player to reach 200 hits in each of his first four major-league seasons when he sent the first pitch from reliever Jeremy Affeldt over the right-center-field fence in the ninth inning.

Suzuki’s seventh homer of the season cut the Royals’ lead to 7-3 and brought chants of “Ichiro! Ichiro!” from the Safeco Field crowd of 30,962.

The 2001 AL MVP and three-time All-Star has a shot at breaking the major-league record of 257 hits set by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns in 1920.

Suzuki, who played nine seasons in Japan before coming to Seattle, had 242 hits in 2001, 208 in 2002 and 212 last season.

He finished 1-for-5 and leads the AL with a .364 batting average. He went 0-for-11 after getting his 199th hit with a single on the first pitch of Tuesday night’s game against Tampa Bay.

The Mariners (46-80), trying to avoid their first 100-loss season since 1983, dropped their fourth straight and sixth in seven games.

Coming off a 21-6 loss Wednesday night in Anaheim, the Royals entered with the worst earned-run average in the AL at 5.18. But they received a strong start from left-hander Brian Anderson (3-11) in the opener of a five-game series between the teams with the two worst records in the AL.

Anderson earned his second victory in August after going three months without a win. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs, six hits and five walks. Kansas City (45-80) ended a three-game losing streak, jumping on Jamie Moyer (6-9) for a 4-0 lead in the first.

Singles by Angel Berroa and Joe Randa and a walk to Matt Stairs loaded the bases before Nunez connected on a 1-1 pitch from Moyer. Nunez hit his first career slam Aug. 13 against Oakland. The Royals acquired Nunez from Florida for right-hander Rudy Seanez on July 31.

It was the 35th homer allowed this season, most in the AL, by Moyer, an All-Star and a 21-game winner last season at age 40. That tied the club record for homers given up, set by right-hander Scott Bankhead in 1987, when the Mariners played their home games in the Kingdome.

Moyer lost his seventh straight decision in 12 starts and 13 appearances since his last win on June 18.