Cold bats, errors doom Jays vs. Royals

Gausman takes loss without earned run despite quality start

Royals 3 Blue Jays 2

Next: Tonight at Royals

The Blue Jays have been playing better of late but they still seem to have a habit of giving away too many games.

Sloppy defence cost the Jays a shot at sweeping the Padres on Sunday. Two days later, it prevented them from winning a second consecutive game against the Royals.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a costly error that led to three unearned runs as the Jays were sent to a 3-2 loss on Tuesday night. Toronto dropped to 13-11 on the season and fell to 3-8 when scoring three runs or fewer.

The Jays carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman didn't have his best stuff but he was successfully grinding through his outing and avoiding damage. With two outs and a runner on second, he appeared to get out of the inning by inducing a routine grounder off the bat of Kyle Isbel.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa fielded the ball cleanly at third and then made an easy throw across the diamond. That should have been the end of the inning but Guerrero misjudged the toss and had the ball bounce off his glove. Michael Massey scored and two hits later the two-run lead had been turned into a one-run deficit.

Gausman took the loss despite not allowing an earned run in 62⁄3 innings. He surrendered seven hits and one walk while striking out two, his lowest total from any start of two or more innings since Aug. 27, 2021. Gausman's fastball velocity was down 0.6 m.p.h. compared to his season average and yet he finished with a quality start.

The Jays opened the scoring in the third on an infield RBI single by Justin Turner. In the sixth, Daulton Varsho doubled to put runners on second and third with one out before Alejandro Kirk delivered a sacrifice fly. Varsho finished 1-for-3 and he now has 10 extra-base hits over his last 11 games.

Those were the only runs the Jays could muster.

Despite winning seven of their last 10, the Jays have yet to score more than five runs in a game this season and they are averaging just 3.88 runs per contest.