KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. delivered the go-ahead double in the fifth inning for Kansas City after a costly error by Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the Royals’ bullpen shut down Toronto the rest of the way in a 3-2 victory Tuesday night.
Chris Stratton (2-1) minimized the damage when he inherited a bases-loaded jam from Michael Wacha in the fifth. He also took care of the sixth before John Schreiber handled the seventh and James McArthur breezed through the eighth.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro opted to send McArthur back out for the ninth, and the Blue Jays’ Cavan Biggio appeared to begin the inning by beating out a single, only for the call to be overturned upon review. George Springer followed with a single and went to second on Guerrero’s groundout, but McArthur got Bo Bichette to ground out to finish off his fifth save of the season.
Kevin Gausman (0-3) allowed three runs — none of them earned — on seven hits and a walk over 6 2/3 innings for Toronto.
Wacha allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks, but he needed 96 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings. He was plenty erratic — Wacha plunked Davis Schneider to load the bases in the fifth — but he also was victimized by some bad luck, including a series of weakly hit singles that the Blue Jays turned into a 1-0 lead in the third.
After Wacha left with the bases loaded in the fifth, Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly gave the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.
The Royals’ comeback in the bottom of the fifth began with a blunder: Adam Frazier was caught in a rundown between third base and home for the second out of the inning. But he stayed alive long enough for Michael Massey to reach second base, and moments later, Guerrero allowed the throw for what should have been the final out of the inning to go right past him.
Massey came around to score, Maikel Garcia followed with a base hit and Witt’s double to left gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead.
The Royals nearly added to that advantage in the seventh, when Garcia drew a two-out walk and Witt singled for his third hit of the night. Vinnie Pasquantino then hammered a pitch from Nate Pearson, but it skirted outside the foul pole in right field, and the Toronto reliever proceeded to strike him out to end the threat.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays RHP Yariel Rodriguez (0-0, 2.35 ERA) takes the mound Wednesday night against Royals RHP Alec Marsh (3-0, 3.22)
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