KANSAS CITY -- The Mariners came to Kansas City with one goal in mind: Win the series, and in turn, gain ground in a tightly contested American League Wild Card race. They’ll have the opportunity to accomplish the first part of that on Sunday, but lost out on a chance to make up some ground on Saturday night.

Seattle was held to just three hits in an 8-1 series-evening loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. The lone run was charged to starter Kris Bubic, who was otherwise magnificent in keeping the Mariners at bay, going 6 1/3 strong innings before handing it off to the bullpen.

As a result, the Mariners (79-69) are four games back in the AL Wild Card standings after earlier wins by the Red Sox (85-65) and Blue Jays (83-65), who lead the Yankees (83-66) by one-half game for the second spot. The A’s (81-67) also won on Saturday.

Bubic’s performance came in stark contrast to the last time Seattle saw the left-hander, when they tagged him for five runs on nine hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings on Aug. 27 at T-Mobile Park. Manager Scott Servais credited better control as the reason for the pitcher's turnaround against his club.

“He landed more curveballs obviously, it was a good pitch for him tonight,” Servais said. “I thought he got some fastballs in on our right-handed hitters, tied them up, some weak jam-shots. ... He did throw a good ballgame. You've got to give him credit. We just never really got much going after the slow start."

Meanwhile, Mariners starter Yusei Kikuchi struggled mightily with command early as he made it through just three innings and yielded three runs on eight hits. He threw three wild pitches in the first that allowed Whit Merrifield to come all the way around from first after a leadoff single, the second time in his career the lefty’s thrown at least three wild pitches in an inning -- the first was exactly one year ago against the Padres.

“I always talk about [how] starting pitching sets the tone for the ballgame,” Servais said. “Him coming out tonight with really no command of any of his pitches was a challenge certainly.”

It also marked the seventh time a Mariners pitcher has thrown at least three wild pitches in one frame, as Kikuchi joined R.A. Dickey (four on Aug. 17, 2008), James Paxton (July 15, 2016), Rob Rasmussen (Sept. 7, 2015), Ken Cloude (June 12, 1999), Jeff Fassero (May 30, 1997) and Gaylord Perry (April 9, 1982).

Servais said one of Kikuchi’s wild pitches came as a result of a miscommunication with catcher Tom Murphy on signs, but that there are no excuses for his lack of command.

"We did have some confusion with the signs there, just with the guy on second on the one,” Servais said. “Other than that, obviously missing location is pretty bad. I think Murph would be the first to tell you he probably should've had one or two of them. … As bad as the first inning was, you're hoping to kind of rally it and get him on some kind of rhythm, get the tempo, pick up the tempo in the ballgame. We were not able to do it."

Kikuchi was of course disappointed in his performance, but even more so given the struggles he’s experienced since a stellar first half that earned him an All-Star Game appearance and the Mariners battling for a postseason berth.

"Extremely frustrating,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “All I want to do is help the team win and put the team in a good position to win every time I go out and take the ball. But as of late, I just haven't been able to do that. And so it is very, very frustrating."

As the Mariners seek a Wild Card spot, outings like Kikuchi’s become increasingly inopportune.

"It certainly puts a lot of stress on your entire pitching staff,” Servais said. “Guys in the bullpen, you have to run multiple guys in there if he has one of those clunkers, which is what happened tonight.

“Any time I think you're trying to put your team in a situation where you want to play postseason baseball, you need to know, have an idea what to expect from your guys all the time out there. ... Inconsistency is -- I know [it's] hard for him to handle, he gets frustrated as well, and it does put us behind the 8-ball on those nights he doesn't have it."