KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost goes to the mound, the pitcher normally goes to the clubhouse to start icing his arm. Yost visited Jason Vargas on the mound in the ninth inning after Kyle Seagers two-out double, but opted to leave him in the game. Two batters later Dustin Ackley singled home Seager with the go-ahead run as the Seattle Mariners beat the Royals 2-1. "Vargas said, Im in great shape. I can get us through this inning, " Yost said. He could not. After Stefen Romeros infield bad hop single, which second baseman Pedro Ciriaco bobbled, Yost thought again of removing Vargas before facing Ackley, who entered in the seventh as a pinch runner. "It is lefty-on-lefty and Ackley hadnt swung the bat all day," Yost said. So he again stuck with Vargas. "If it works out, you are smart," Yost said. "If it doesnt, youre the dumbest guy in the stadium. I was the dumbest guy in the stadium." Ackleys single to right on a 2-2 count scored Seager. Ackley is 5 for 10 off Jason Vargas (7-3), who took the loss. "He (Yost) just asked me if I could get him, and I said, yeah, Vargas said. "There wasnt a whole lot more than that. I felt fine, I felt great in the ninth inning. Just a little bit of bad luck got us and I think we all know what happened after that." It was 91 degrees and humid for the first pitch, but Vargas did not use that as an excuse. "I mean, its hot," Vargas said. "I dont think theres any other way around it. I dont think you can feel sorry for yourself out there just because its hot. You know what you signed up for. You know what Kansas City summers are like." After retiring the first dozen Royals, Chris Young yielded a home run to Alex Gordon to leadoff the fifth to tie the score at 1. Young gave up back-to-back singles to Salvador Perez and Justin Maxwell after Gordons team-leading ninth home run. Perez, however, was out trying to stretch his into a double. "Hes really tough to pick the ball up," said Eric Hosmer, who went 0-for-4. "Hes throwing 84-85 miles per hour, but he has such a long arm and his release point is so close to you thats it really hard to pick up. Hes been real consistent for those guys." The Mariners bunched three hits leading off the third with Cole Gillespies single to centre scoring Brad Miller, who began the inning with a bunt single and stopped at second on James Jones single. Young, a 35-year-old right-hander who has had three shoulder surgeries including one last June, did not did not sign with the Mariners until March 27 after the Washington Nationals released him in spring training. He was pulled after seven innings, allowing only the run on Gordons blast and three hits. Yoervis Medina (4-1) replaced Young and worked a flawless eighth, striking out two to pick up the victory. He has not allowed a run and only three hits in his past 10 outings, covering 101/3 innings. Fernando Rodney worked the ninth for his 20th save in 22 opportunities, getting Hosmer to ground into a game ending double play. Vargas gave up 10 hits and two runs in 82/3 innings, losing for the first time since May 19. Robinson Cano went 0-for-4 to snap his 21-game road hitting streak, the longest in the majors this season. NOTES: The Royals purchased the contract of OF Justin Maxwell from Triple-A Omaha and placed OF Nori Aoki on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left groin. The Royals transferred LHP Bruce Chen, who has a bulging disc, from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL. ... Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton, who helped Wichita State reach the NCAA Final Four in 2013 and to an undefeated regular season in 2013-14, took part of the ceremonial first pitch. ... The Mariners have won nine of their past 10 day games. ... The Royals have lost three straight after a 10-game winning streak ended Thursday. 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And they insist they dont care. "Were just worried about ourselves," Amir Johnson said after Mondays victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. "We just want to clean up on our mistakes. Whoevers in front of us, were going to play the same way weve been playing all season." The Raptors, who set a franchise record with their 48th win of the season Monday night, will face either the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards or Charlotte Bobcats when the opening round begins this weekend. The Raptors are tied with the Chicago Bulls for third in the Eastern Conference, but control their own destiny. Theyll clinch the No. 3 seed if they either beat the Knicks on Wednesday, or the Bulls lose at Charlotte. Theyll finish fourth if they lose and Chicago wins. "We havent thought about it or talked about it," guard Kyle Lowry said, about the ramifications of Wednesdays schedule. "Were just going to go out there and play our game." Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been resting his starters -- all-star DeMar DeRozan got the night off Monday. Casey said he would consider resting DeRozan again Wednesday, despite what outcome that might have on the game, and their conference seeding. "Im more worried about us moreso than who we play. Its about us. About our health,, rest, whatever we decide to do in that situation.dddddddddddd If we play Brooklyn, we play Brooklyn, if we play Washington, we play Washington, theres no easy teams left in the playoffs right now, all the teams are very capable," Casey said. "Brooklyn is probably more playoff-ready, but we cant control that and were not going into this game trying to control that. Im more worried about our guys health -- rest if we rest them -- and our rhythm. And its a fine line between the two." While the players might not have a stated preference, fans certainly do, and general consensus is Washington. The Raptors won the season series against the Wizards three games to one. The Raptors lost all three of their games to Charlotte this season, although only by a combined nine points. They split their four games with Brooklyn, but the Nets have that invaluable playoff experience. Five Nets players alone -- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko and Joe Johnson -- have 432 playoff appearances combined. The Toronto Raptors: 147. Raptors starters DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross: Zero. The Raptors are making their first playoff appearance since 2007-08. They were beaten in five games by the Orlando Magic. This is the sixth time in the teams 19-year history theyve made the playoffs. Their only series win was in 2000-01 when they beat the New York Knicks three games to two, before losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games in the second round. ' ' '