The Royals kept the streak alive in Toronto, and they did it with a finish that leaned hard on the gloves. Kansas City beat the Blue Jays 5-3 on a night when the ninth inning turned into a showcase of defense, first from the Royals in the field and then from the Blue Jays’ aggressive baserunning in the final moments.
Kansas City got on the board right away in the first. Carter Jensen opened with a single off Max Scherzer, then Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino drew walks to fill the bases.
Salvador Perez followed by grounding into a double play, but it still brought Jensen home. Toronto answered in kind, loading the bases in its half of the inning and getting only one run out of it on a sacrifice fly from Jesús Sánchez.
After that, the game settled into a long stretch without a run, though both starters were under pressure. Seth Lugo worked five innings for the Royals and allowed six hits and a walk. Scherzer also spent the night dealing with traffic, giving up nine baserunners across his five innings.
The deadlock finally broke in the fifth, and Kansas City took control from there. Perez came through with a single that scored Witt from third, pushing the Royals in front 2-1.
They added on in the sixth when Nick Loftin and John Rave singled against Braydon Fisher and Mason Fluharty. Kyle Isbel then bunted, helped along by a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. throwing error, and Jensen finished the rally with a sacrifice fly.
Rave kept the pressure on in the ninth with another RBI single, this time against Tyler Rogers, the submarine right-hander. Funky delivery means nothing against the Raver!
The bigger story, though, was what happened after the Royals’ offense had done enough. Kansas City’s bullpen has been, shall we say, unreliable this year, and the seventh inning brought the first real scare.
Connor Thomas came in for John Schreiber and immediately hit Andrés Giménez with a pitch. Alejandro Kirk then grounded into a double play, and George Springer followed with a groundout to end the threat.
The eighth inning got tense too. Nate Pearson replaced Thomas, struck out one batter, then walked Nathan Lukes on five pitches that never really threatened the zone.
Guerrero followed with a deep double to right-center, putting runners on second and third with one out. But Kazuma Okamoto popped up, and Ernie Clement hit a weak fly ball after a foul ball into his cylinder.
Toronto finished that inning 0-10 with runners in scoring position.
That set the stage for the ninth, with Tyler Tolbert already in the game at second base after Michael Massey left as a precaution following a head-first tumble on a play that erased Lukes.
For a moment, Stephen Cruz looked like he might breeze through it. He got the first two outs on ground balls to second, and the second one was a sharp dive-and-throw by Tolbert, who read it perfectly.
Then Toronto made it interesting. Daz Cameron singled.
Brett Bateman singled and moved to second on defensive indifference. Lukes then lined a single to left-center, scoring Cameron and Bateman to make it 5-3 with Guerrero looming.
But Lukes pushed for more, trying to take the extra base, and that turned into the final out of the game. Collins handled the ball cleanly, spun, and fired to Witt at the cutoff spot. Witt made a perfect relay to Tolbert, and the tag ended it.
It was the kind of finish that can change the feel of a game in one snap. Kansas City is now 59-74 and still a longshot in the playoff race, but the wins are stacking up anyway. The Royals have now won nine straight.
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Through 12 games, he has paired a .250 average with a strong walk rate and eight stolen bases, a mix that speaks to contact skills, patience, and impact on the bases even before the power shows up. The extra-base damage may come later, but for now the early returns are encouraging for a Royals system that can appreciate a young hitter already doing a lot of the little things well. [Read more 🡒]