Jakob Junis extended his scoreless inning streak to 14 and the Kansas City Royals gave him a seven-run lead before the bullpen blew most of it in a 7-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday-evening.
Junis (1-0) gave up two runs and five hits on a walk while working in the sixth inning, but both scores came with reliever Jake Newberry.
Kyle Zimmer gave up a touchdown and Scott Barlow allowed two enemies to reach base with one out in the ninth inning before dominating Bo Bichette with a flyout and striking out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for his first save.
Guerrero was three times shy to complete the cycle with the Blue Jays. The highlight for Toronto was the Dominican’s two-for-out shot in the seventh inning.
The ball hit fountains in left field and landed about 140 yards from home plate.
It wasn’t the night for Toronto-starter Anthony Kay (0-1), who gave up five runs and six hits in only 3 1/3 innings.
The Royals went through an offensive slump before waking up against the Angels on Wednesday. A line-up built to take advantage of the sprawling outfields at Kauffman Stadium continued to bring in extra basehits on Thursday-evening.
Andrew Benintendi led off the board with an RBI double before Kay eliminated his first enemy. Nicky Lopez followed with a triple RBI in the third inning – then scored on the error by third baseman Cavan Biggio. But the fatal blow to the Blue Jays came in the fifth inning, when four of Kansas City’s first six batters doubled.
For the Royals, Cuban Jorge Soler 4-2 with a run scored. The Dominicans Hanser Alberto produced 3-2 with one and scored two; Carlos Santana 4-0. The Venezuelan Salvador Pérez 4-0.
For the Blue Jays, Guerrero Jr. 5-3 with one RBI and two runs scored. The Cuban Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 3-2 with a run scored. Mexican Alejandro Kirk 1-1.