Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Daulton Varsho catches a fly ball for the out on Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. during the seventh inning. The Royals won 3-2 on April 24, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.Charlie Riedel/The Associated Press
Alec Marsh and four relievers combined for a six-hitter as the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 Wednesday night.
Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez each had two hits and an RBI for Kansas City, which bounced back from a loss in the series opener on Monday to win two straight.
“That’s Royals baseball,” said Bobby Witt Jr., who is batting .350 during a five-game hitting streak. “We’ve got to keep doing that. Get on the base paths. Be aggressive. Make things happen. The bats will come around and (we’ll) hit some homers, too.”
John Schreiber (2-0) picked up the win in relief. James McArthur earned his sixth save.
“It’s been awesome,” McArthur said. “Those guys coming in early in the game kind of sets the tone for us to come in later. We all have a really good idea of what we’re trying to do in the pen.
“The coaches do a great job of giving us good scouting reports, and then we can always rely on [catchers] Salvy [Perez] and Freddy [Fermin]. We just try to pass the baton to each other and feed off each other.”
Yariel Rodriguez (0-1) gave up three runs on six hits in four innings. He struck out two and walked two.
Marsh left the game with one out in the fifth inning after taking a line drive off his right forearm. He fielded the ball and threw out Addison Barger at first, but was removed after that. He gave up no runs on two hits.
“We feel like we got pretty lucky,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “It got him in like just above the elbow, on the forearm, but squaring him up. I mean, you could see (the laces) pretty good.
“He was saying, `Oh, it’s coming back. It’s coming back.’ We’ve got to use our heads there a little bit.”
The Royals scored in the first, helped by a couple of walks by Rodriguez. Witt and Vinnie Pasquantino walked with one out, and Perez lined a single to left to score Witt.
The Royals added a run in the second. Kyle Isbel hit a two-out double that Barger misplayed into three bases. Barger, who made his debut Wednesday, played right field and third base in Triple-A. He broke in and the ball sailed over his head. Garcia singled, scoring Isbel with the Royals’ second run.
The Blue Jays have scored just seven runs in the last three games, two of them 3-2 losses. Toronto manager John Schneider is not worried.
“It’s a matter of time,” he said. “You got to keep plugging away. Everyone knows how we’re built, but it takes a game or two to really get rolling. And I think the encouraging part is we are where we are [record-wise] without firing on all cylinders really. So, we’re confident it will turn around.”
The Blue Jays got on the board in the fifth when George Springer homered off reliever Angel Zerpa.
The Royals chased Rodriguez with three straight singles in the fifth. Witt’s single scored Isbel with KC’s third run.
Toronto got an RBI groundout from Ernie Clement to pull within 3-2 in the sixth.
Transactions
Blue Jays: OF Kevin Kiermaier was placed on the 10-day injured list with left hip flexor inflammation. Toronto called up Addison Barger from Triple-A Buffalo to take his place. Barger made his MLB debut in left field and hit eighth in the order.
Up next
The Blue Jays and Royals will conclude their four-game series Thursday afternoon. The Blue Jays will send RHP Jose Berrios (4-0, 0.85 ERA) to the mound to face LHP Cole Ragans (0-2, 4.32 ERA).