Toronto, ON – Mike Moustakas hit his first career grand slam and drove in a total of five runs, helping the Kansas City Royals dominate the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-3, in the opener of a four-game series.
Salvador Perez added a two-run homer and two runs scored for the Royals, who snapped a three-game skid. Yuniesky Betancourt had two RBI and two runs scored.
Everett Teaford (1-1) allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings to pick up his first win of the season. He struck out two and walked two.
Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista hit solo homers for the Blue Jays, who have lost five of seven.
Ricky Romero (8-3), who came into the game with a 5-0 mark at home, gave up eight runs on 11 hits over six-plus frames. He struck out four and walked three.
"I thought he attacked the zone much more aggressively tonight," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said about Romero. "But when he got ahead in the count, the ability to put the hitter away and really limit any kind of multi-run inning, especially the second through the fourth, was a little bit elusive."
The Blue Jays' lone lead of the game came in the first inning. Brett Lawrie doubled, Bautista walked and Edwin Encarnacion was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Yunel Escobar grounded out to plate a run, but Kelly Johnson followed with the final out of the frame.
Kansas City went ahead for good in the second. Jeff Francoeur worked a two-out walk and scored on Perez's homer to left.
The Royals tacked on two more runs in the third. Eric Hosmer singled, moved to second on a groundout and raced home on Betancourt's double down the left- field line. Moustakas followed with an RBI double to right.
Bautista responded with a solo homer in the bottom half to make it 4-2.
But Kansas City put another two-spot up in the fourth. Perez singled and Jason Bourgeois doubled to get things started. After Alex Gordon hit an RBI single to right-center field, Bourgeois scored on a wild pitch.
Rasmus' fifth-inning blast off the facing of the third deck in right got Toronto within three, 6-3.
But the Royals exploded for five runs in the seventh to turn the game into a rout. Romero put the first two men on base before being replaced by David Pauley, who hit Billy Butler with a pitch. Betancourt's RBI single to left preceded Moustakas' grand slam to center. Pauley retired the next three batters, but not before the visitors took an 11-3 lead.
"I got a fastball over the middle of the plate and just tried not to do too much with it. I tried to get the guy in from third and fortunately it carried out of the yard," Moustakas said about his grand slam.
Game Notes
The Blue Jays swept a four-game series from the Royals in April...Romero fell to 2-2 in five career meetings against Kansas City...Toronto went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and stranded five.
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