Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Toronto Blue Jays

72-71, 35-36 Away

Final
4 - 3

Kansas City Royals

63-80, 37-34 Home

Kazuma Okamoto leads Blue Jays past Royals 4-3 to pull into tie for last AL wild card

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals: Game Highlights

Toronto (72-71) won for the seventh time in eight games and moved over .500 for the first time since the Blue Jays were 4-3 on April 3. The defending AL champions, who were 10 games under .500 on July 28, are tied with the Guardians for the league's third wild card.

Okamoto went 4 for 5 with a double and broke a 3-all tie in the seventh with an RBI single. In the third inning, Okamoto hit an RBI double that hit third base over a diving Josh Rojas and rolled into the left-field corner.

Nathan Lukes had three hits for Toronto, including an RBI single that made it 2-0 in the first. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored the first run of the game from first base when Alejandro Kirk reached on a two-out infield single and Rojas committed a throwing error.

Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs and five hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Mason Fluharty (6-1) worked a hitless inning in relief and Louis Varland got three outs for his 33rd save.

Seth Lugo allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings for Kansas City. Craig Kimbrel (1-3) took the loss.

John Rave hit a solo homer for the Royals that tied it 3-all in the fourth. Jac Caglianone and Salvador Perez each had an RBI single in the first to pull Kansas City even at 2.

Caglianone exited in the third with left elbow soreness.

The Royals had runners at first and second with no outs down 4-3 in the eighth, but couldn’t capitalize when Vinnie Pasquantino grounded into a double play and Michael Massy grounded out.

Kansas City is 18-8 in its last 26 games at Kauffman Stadium.

Up next Royals RHP Randy Dobnak (2-3, 2.65 ERA) will pitch the series finale Sunday. Toronto had not announced a scheduled starter.

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How can I watch Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Blue Jays at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Collins grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Isbel struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Isbel hit for Tolbert
	9th Inning	Rave grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Varland relieved Rogers
	9th Inning	Okamoto grounded out to third.

Statistics

TOR		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
18	Ground Balls	10
4	Strikeouts	5
3	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
13	Hits	7
1	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	3
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
39	At Bats	33
0	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
22	Runners Left On Base	13
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	1
17	Fly Balls	18
0	Caught Stealing	0
159	Pitches	128
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
15	Total Bases	11
42	Plate Appearances	36
0.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
2	Extra Base Hits	2
6.2	Runs Created	2.8
.333	Batting Average	.212
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.385	Slugging Percentage	.333
.154	Secondary Average	.182
.381	On Base Percentage	.278
.766	On-Base-Plus-Slugging	.611
1.1	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
6.4	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	2.8
32.0	Batter Rating	24.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	33.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.79	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.56
.051	Isolated Power	.121
0.75	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.40
.071	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.056
-.179	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.030
7.0	Runs Produced	6.0
0.8	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.2
87.5	MLB Rating	76.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0