Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Toronto Blue Jays

71-71, 34-36 Away

Final
9 - 2

Kansas City Royals

63-79, 37-33 Home

Kirk, Clement and Springer each drive in 2 runs as Blue Jays beat Royals 9-2 to reach .500

Blue Jays starter Jameson Taillon was making his first appearance since Aug. 10, when he was placed on the injured list with right forearm tendinitis. The 34-year-old right-hander left the game due to right elbow discomfort after allowing one run on two hits in two innings.

Kirk and Clement each had a double among their two hits as the defending AL champion Blue Jays (71-71) got back to .500 for the first time since they were 39-39 on June 22. They were 10 games under .500 on July 28. Toronto has won six of its last seven games.

Joe Mantiply (2-0), picked up the victory as one of four relievers for the Blue Jays who limited Kansas City to one run on four hits in seven innings. Michael Lorenzen worked the final three innings and earned his first save.

Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV (4-5) struggled early before retiring the last nine batters he faced. He allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked one batter.

The Blue Jays struck early, scoring four runs in the first inning. Kirk and Kazuma Okamoto had RBI singles before Clement drove in two runs with a double.

The Royals got a run back in the bottom of the first on Bobby Witt Jr.'s 17th home run.

Kirk had an RBI double in the second, giving the Blue Jays another four-run lead.

The Blue Jays struck again in the sixth. Myles Straw dropped a sacrifice bunt that scored Clement. Springer then hit a two-RBI double to the gap in right-center.

Each team added a solo homer in the ninth inning. Sean Keys hit his second of the season for Toronto. Vinnie Pasquantino hit his 10th for Kansas City.

Up next Blue Jays RHP Max Scherzer (2-7, 6.16 ERA) will face Royals RHP Seth Lugo (6-8, 5.03) on Saturday.

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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Loftin flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Pasquantino homered to right (369 feet).
	9th Inning	M. Lugo struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	M. Lugo hit for Perez
	9th Inning	Caglianone grounded out to first.
	9th Inning	Clement lined out to left.

Statistics

TOR		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
15	Ground Balls	14
3	Strikeouts	5
9	Runs Batted In	2
1	Sacrifice Hit	0
13	Hits	6
0	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
9	Runs	2
0	Ground Into Double Play	2
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
38	At Bats	31
1	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	8
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	1
21	Fly Balls	12
0	Caught Stealing	0
134	Pitches	130
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
19	Total Bases	13
43	Plate Appearances	33
162.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
4	Extra Base Hits	3
7.7	Runs Created	2.5
.342	Batting Average	.194
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.500	Slugging Percentage	.419
.237	Secondary Average	.290
.405	On Base Percentage	.242
.905	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.662
0.7	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
8.0	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	2.5
58.0	Batter Rating	22.0
38.0	At Bats Per Home Run	15.5
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.12	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.94
.158	Isolated Power	.226
1.00	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.40
.070	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.061
-.105	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.097
18.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.2
103.3	MLB Rating	75.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0