The Royals bullpen shuffled through another arm on Monday when the club recalled right-hander Michael Mariot and optioned fellow righty Aaron Brooks to Class AAA Omaha.
Brooks threw an inning of relief on Sunday. The team sought a fresh contributor for Monday, with Joe Blanton on the mound.
Manager Ned Yost indicated the team’s zeal for new relievers stems from injuries to Yordano Ventura, Jason Vargas and Danny Duffy.
"When you have three starters down, you’ve got to try to have some protection, long," Yost said before his team faced the Mariners. "So you don’t eat up a bunch of innings down there that you don’t want to eat up.