Kansas City, MO – Jose Bautista hit a two-run homer to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
Munenori Kawasaki, who replaced an injured Jose Reyes in the starting lineup, had a sacrifice fly and scored once for the Blue Jays, winners in three of their last four games.
Prior to the game, Reyes was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left ankle sprain, and selected the contract of Kawasaki from Triple-A Buffalo. Reyes suffered the injury in Friday's win. Although MRI results were not immediately released, Reyes could be out for three months.
R.A. Dickey (1-2) allowed one run on five hits over 6 1/3 innings to earn the win. Casey Janssen gave up one run in the ninth but was able to record the final out to pick up his third save of the season.
"Look, nobody has been happy with the way things have gone. Not as a starting staff" Dickey said. "We all talk about it and we know it's obvious that we haven't performed up to not only the expectation but our ability. We all feel very responsible to that. That being said, nobody in here is panicking."
Chris Getz went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Alex Gordon had two hits and drove in a run for the Royals, who have dropped their last two after winning four straight.
James Shields (1-2) lasted all nine innings, giving up three runs on two hits to go with six strikeouts.
"He (Shields) pitched a great ballgame. He threw 115 pitches I think if he could take one back it'd probably be the curveball to (Jose) Bautista," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He just got it up a little bit. He's (Bautista) one of the strongest guys in the league and ended up hitting a two-run homer off it."
Toronto got on the board in the third when Kawasaki scored Maicer Izturis with a sacrifice fly. Kawasaki lifted a fly ball to right field, which was caught by Jeff Francoeur. Francoeur fired the ball to the plate, but catcher Salvador Perez was unable to apply the tag before Izturis slid across the dish.
Jose Bautista's two-run homer in the sixth made it 3-0. Kawasaki drew a leadoff walk, but Shields was able to get the next two hitters out, before Bautista crushed a hanging curveball into the left field stands.
Kansas City pushed one across in the seventh to make it 3-1. Jarrod Dyson doubled to left field, then stole third. With Dyson on third, Getz dragged a bunt down the first baseline, scoring Dyson without a throw.
The Royals made things interesting in the ninth inning. With two outs, Getz singled to right center before taking second base on a defensive indifference. Gordon was able to poke a single up the middle to push Getz across.
Janssen, though, was able to get Alcides Escobar to fly out to right field to end the game.
Game Notes
Toronto was 1-for-2 with runners in scoring position ... Janssen has recorded a save in each of his last nine opportunities, and 24-of-26 chances dating back to May 9, 2012 ... Gordon extended his hitting streak to an MLB-best 10 games ... The Royals were 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
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