KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Noah Cameron pitched into the seventh inning, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino hit back-to-back home runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat Toronto 2-1 on Saturday night to prevent the Blue Jays from clinching a playoff spot.
Toronto’s lead in the AL East was trimmed to two games over the New York Yankees, who Both teams have seven games left, and the Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker.
Toronto dropped its fourth straight, matching its second-longest losing streak of the year.
Cameron (9-7) allowed a run on three hits in 6 2/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts for his third straight quality start.
Cameron allowed permitted baserunner in each inning except the first and sixth, exiting with two outs in the seventh after Daulton Varsho’s 19th homer. His nine wins match Bill Butler in 1969 for the most by a Royals rookie left-hander.
Carlos Estévez worked around Ty France’s one-out hit in the ninth to earn his major league-best 41st save.
Witt opened the scoring with his 23rd homer leading off the fourth and Pasquantino followed with his 31st home run — Kansas City’s fourth set of consecutive homers.
Witt added a hustle double in the sixth, recording his 44th multihit game.
One game after getting a franchise-record 27 hits, the Royals had just four.
Jac Caglianone left in the seventh inning after being hit with a pitch above the right elbow.
Shane Bieber (3-2) tossed 6 1/3 innings in his longest start for the Blue Jays, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk, striking out four.
With one out and a runner at first in the ninth, center fielder John Rave ran down Varsho’s long drive to the track in left-center, then raced in to catch Ernie Clement’s fly ball, ending the game.
Bieber’s loss was his first at Kauffman Stadium where he is 3-1 in nine career starts.
Royals RHP Michael Wacha (9-12, 3.79 ERA) takes the mound in Kansas City’s regular-season home finale opposite Blue Jays RHP Trey Yesavage (0-0, 1.80).
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