Royals belt three homers in 15-5 rout
8 runs in second too much for Jays to overcome
TORONTO — Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in Kansas City’s eight-run second inning and the Royals went on to paste the Toronto Blue Jays, 15-5, in American League baseball action Wednesday night at Rogers Centre.
Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas added solo homers as the Royals piled on with four more runs in the sixth inning. Starter Jakob Junis allowed three hits over 6 1/3 innings to help Kansas City end a threegame losing skid.
Merrifield and Moustakas had three hits apiece as Kansas City outhit Toronto 18-6.
The Royals (74-77) are clinging to faint playoff hopes in the American League. They entered play four games behind Minnesota in the race for the second wildcard spot.
Melky Cabrera drove in Lorenzo Cain with a sacrifice fly in the first inning before the Royals erupted in the second. The first five Royals reached base in the frame, with Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer driving in two runs apiece.
Merrifield added an RBI single, while Alex Gordon stole third and came home on a Russell Martin throwing error. Luis Santos replaced Toronto starter Brett Anderson with one out, but didn’t fare much better.
Perez turned on an 0-2 pitch for his 26th homer of the year and Moustakas doubled for his second hit of the inning before the Toronto reliever finally got the last two outs.
Anderson (3-4) gave up seven hits, eight earned runs and two walks. He started trending on Twitter after a video clip appeared to show him tearing his cap in frustration while sitting on the dugout bench.
In the sixth, Merrifield hit a 1-0 pitch from Carlos Ramirez into the seats for his 18th homer. It was the first earned run allowed by the righthander in 47 2/3 innings at the minor- and major-league level this year.
Moustakas set a franchise record later in the inning when he belted his 37th homer of the season. It moved him past Steve Balboni (1985) for the Royals’ all-time single-season high.
The Blue Jays (71-81) got on the board with four runs in the seventh. Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run double while Raffy Lopez and Ryan Goins provided back-to-back sacrifice flies.
Junis (8-2) allowed two earned runs while walking a pair and striking out three.
Kansas City tacked on two more runs in the eighth and Lopez hit a solo shot in the ninth. It was his fourth homer of the season.
Announced attendance was 33,050, pushing the Blue Jays’ season total past three million for the third straight year. NOTES: The game took three hours one minute to play . ... Lefthanders are scheduled to square off Thursday night in the rubber game of the three-game series. J.A. Happ (9-10, 3.76 earned-run average) will start for Toronto against Jason Vargas (16-10, 4.19 ERA) . ... The Blue Jays will close out their home schedule with a weekend series against the New York Yankees.