KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- While home runs are generating the excitement in Kansas City, sometimes it's the little things that are winning games for the Royals.

Mike Sweeney's bunt single in the sixth inning caught the Seattle Mariners and his own teammates by surprise and helped Kansas City beat the Mariners 6-3 Sunday.

Sweeney's bunt enabled Johnny Damon to speed home from third and break a 2-2 tie, flustering Gil Meche (0-3) and thrilling his own manager.

"This is a sign of maturity and wanting to win, and learning how to win," Tony Muser said. "That was tremendous. That was what really sparked us and got us into position to do other good things."

It was not a suicide squeeze. Damon had no idea Sweeney wasn't swinging away.

"Johnny came up to me in the second inning and said Meche was falling off the mound toward first base and my next at-bat I noticed (third baseman Carlos) Guillen was way back," Sweeney said. "So I decided to bunt it."

Jermaine Dye's RBI double a moment later made it 4-2, then Joe Randa tacked on a two-run homer in the eighth as the Royals raised their home record to 10-2.

"Sweeney to lay down a bunt right there, that's just not something I expected," Meche said.

Jose Rosado (2-2) went 5 2/3 innings and was replaced by Jose Santiago after a 50-minute rain delay. Rosado gave up two runs on five hits, with three walks and four strikeouts.

Santiago struck out five batters in 2 1/3 innings and prompted Seattle manager Lou Piniella to wonder if he wasn't scuffing the ball. Piniella went out and asked the umpires about it.

"Every time Santiago went to his belt buckle, the ball was doing something funny," Piniella said. "I just asked them to check the ball if he went to his belt buckle."

Santiago denied any wrongdoing.

"I guess my ball moved pretty good today and he was kind of surprised," Santiago said. "the umpires didn't say anything to me. I asked him if he wanted to check me and he said no."

Ricky Bottalico pitched the ninth for his third save.

Mark Quinn hit a two-run homer in the second and Dye hit an RBI double in the sixth that capped one of the most productive Aprils in team history.

Dye, the first player in major league history to have 10 home runs and 10 doubles before May 1, closed out the month leading the AL with 11 homers, 83 total bases, 12 doubles, 23 extra-base hits and an .847 slugging percentage. His 11 homers and 28 RBI are both club records for April.

"He's had a great month. I'm happy for him," Muser said.

Alex Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly in the third. The Mariners tied it at 2 on an RBI grounder in the fifth by Edgar Martinez.

Damon reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth and went to second with his league-leading 11th stolen base before Sweeney laid down his two-out bunt.

Martinez hit his fifth home run with two out in the seventh.

Meche gave up four runs and six hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out five.

In his five starts, the Mariners have scored just seven runs.

"The runs are just not coming right now," he said. "I'm just not getting lucky right now. But it will turn around. I'll just keep going after them."

Game notes
Every Mariner batter struck out one time. ... The Mariners (13-10) had a winning April for just the seventh time in their history. ... After getting swept in three games in Seattle last week, the Royals took two of three from the Mariners. ... Royals 2B Carlos Febles made a fine play in the seventh. With John Olerud on first and two out, Jay Buhner hit a hard smash straight at him. He knocked the ball down, then went to his knees and tossed to shortstop Jeff Reboulet for the force. ... The Mariners turned four double plays.