SEATTLE (AP) -- Brett Tomko is doing his best to make the Seattle Mariners feel as good as possible about the departure of Ken Griffey Jr.

Tomko pitched six strong innings in his Seattle debut and Tom Lampkin homered and drove in three runs as the Mariners handed the Kansas City Royals their eighth consecutive defeat, 4-2 Saturday.

	By winning his Seattle debut, Tomko must have made Jamie Moyer proud.

"A lot of bad things were said about me last year," said Tomko, who was 5-7 for the Reds last season after being 13-12 for them in 1998. "So it was nice to go out there today and say, 'I still belong.' "

Said manager Lou Piniella: "Brett was outstanding. He had a really good command of the strike zone and he threw hard."

Unlike Friday night, when the Mariners lost four players because of injuries against the Royals, the Mariners made it through the game without losing anybody.

Tomko (1-0), acquired in the trade that sent Griffey to Cincinnati on Feb. 10, was called up from Triple-A Tacoma on Friday. Starting in place of the disabled Jamie Moyer, he allowed Jermaine Dye's seventh homer of the season, but not much else.

Tomko limited the Royals to four hits, while walking none and striking out seven. He was taken out after giving up a single to Mike Sweeney to lead off the seventh.

The 27-year-old right-hander began the season in the Pacific Coast League after suffering from a sore left Achilles' tendon this spring.

"I didn't go down to Tacoma and hang my head," Tomko said. "It's unfortunate that we lost such pitchers as Jamie and Freddy, but we've still got a lot of talent left."

Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched the ninth for his third save. He gave up a solo home run to Dave McCarty.

Lampkin, Seattle's backup catcher filling in for ailing DH Edgar Martinez, gave Tomko a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the second inning. It came after Raul Ibanez singled.

After Dye homered in the fourth, the Mariners scored two runs in the bottom of the inning. Jay Buhner and Lampkin had RBI doubles.

Lampkin's homer came on a 3-2 count after he fouled off six pitches from Jay Witasick (0-4).

"He was coming right at me," Lampkin said. "It was nice. I needed that."

Said Witasick: "It was a fastball. I left it up a little bit. I was challenging him with the fastball away. He got a good pass at it."

Witasick (0-4) went five innings, allowing four runs and six hits.

"He made some mistakes," Kansas City manager Tony Muser said. "Those doubles will kill you."

The Royals' Carlos Febles was 0-for-4, ending his 15-game hitting streak, longest in the majors this season.

Game notes
Tomko is 7-0 lifetime against AL teams. With Cincinnati, he was 6-0 in games against AL clubs. All his decisions have been against AL Central teams. "I don't like to talk about that stat too much," Tomko said. "You kind of laugh at it. No, I don't put too many thoughts into it." ... Kansas City's eight-game losing streak is its longest since last season when it dropped nine in a row. The Royals' longest losing skid ever is 12 in 1997. During this streak, the Royals haven't led after a full inning. ... Royals center fielder Johnny Damon came out of the game in the fifth with a sprained middle finger of his right hand. He hurt himself sliding back into first in the first on an attempted pickoff play. ... Joe Randa ended a 1-for-26 slump when he singled off Tomko's left wrist in the second. After having starters Moyer and Freddy Garcia go on the disabled list the last two days, Piniella and pitching coach Bryan Price rushed out to the mound to make sure Tomko was not seriously hurt. ... Kansas City's pitching has allowed an AL-most 33 homers this season. ... Cameron (bruised left knee) and Martinez (sore left quadriceps muscle) are expected to play Sunday.