Kansas City’s Yuniesky Betancourt (3) jumps over a ground ball off the bat of teammate David DeJesus. The Royals defeated the Seattle Mariners, 3-1, on Monday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? Kyle Davies’ pitch count was climbing, and Royals manager Trey Hillman was potentially facing a tough decision.

Davies hadn’t given up a hit through the first five innings, but had thrown over 100 pitches.

Ichiro Suzuki quickly ended any debate that Hillman eventually may have faced by getting a swinging bunt single to lead off the sixth. It was the only hit that Davies would give up in Kansas City’s 3-1 victory over Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

“At the rate he was going, if I’d left him in and he hadn’t given up a hit until the ninth inning, he probably would have been around 150 (pitches),” Hillman said. “A good chance I would have gotten assassinated whether he gets (the no-hitter) or not. That’s a tough spot for a manager. It really is.”

Whatever the skipper wanted was OK with Davies.

“I go out there and pitch until he takes the ball out of my hand,” Davies said. “It’s the seventh inning, you pitched six good innings, let the bullpen take over.”

Billy Butler hit a solo homer, and the Kansas City bullpen came through as the Royals held on for the victory. He homered leading off the seventh for a 3-0 lead against Hernandez (2-1), who had won nine consecutive decisions since losing, 6-1, to Cleveland last Aug. 23. In seven innings, Hernandez gave up three runs — two earned — with three walks and seven strikeouts.

“I was just trying to pitch my game, keep the game close and give my team a chance to come back and win the game,” Hernandez said. “I was able to do that. I think I’m going to be fine.”

Davies (2-1) threw 63 strikes with his 108 pitches, walked three and struck out five before turning a 2-0 lead over to the bullpen starting the seventh.

“He was tough, throwing 94 mph, threw cutters, had a good feel for his curveball,” Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He pitched a heck of a ball game. You look at no-hits. We got his pitch count up there, but still couldn’t do anything.”

The sparse crowd which sat through fairly heavy rain in the early innings grew expectant when Davies took his no-hit bid into the sixth. But with one out and Rob Johnson on first with Davies’ second walk, Suzuki slapped a bouncing ball toward the right side of the infield. The ball slowed in the wet grass as second baseman Alberto Callaspo came running in. He scooped it up with his glove and heaved it to first, but the fleet Suzuki was a couple of steps quicker.