Royals Offense Geysers All Over Toronto

Led by, well, the offense, the Royals meted out justice--American style--on those dastardly Canucks that call Toronto home. Spearheaded by the bottom of the order, Salvador Perez ripped four hits, and Jarrod Dyson had two doubles (including one that was CRUSHED off the wall in right field) and scored on a heads up play on the basepaths, coming around to score from second just as Hosmer legged out a single to Kelly Johnson, who fielded the ball just past the line demarcating the left field from the infield only to have Hosmer beat Francisco Cordero up the line to the bag at first.

The triumvirate of Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar, and Eric Hosmer each managed two hits with Escobar doubling for one of his, and Gordon, Billy Butler, and Yummiest Betancourt (!) each drew walks. Every Royals batsman got at least one hit, and everyone other than Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur were on base multiple times tonight.

On the pitching side of things, Luke Oplakia Hochevar and Tim Collins each allowed J.P. Arencibia to hang dong on them, but otherwise those two and fireman Greg Holland limited the damage the Blue Jays were able to do to the Royals to three runs through seven innings. Then Aaron Crow came in, allowing a run before being pulled with two runners in scoring position. Jose Mijares relieved Crow only to immediately allow a Ben Francisco triple, plating two runs and cutting the Royals' lead to 8 - 6. Betancourt's homer in the top of the ninth extended the Royals lead to three runs again, and Broxton closed the door on the Jays.

Luke Hochevar did leave the game at the conclusion of the fifth inning with a right ankle sprain, which he rolled covering first base for what would have been the final out of the inning were it not for the Royals' second error of the frame, Eric Hosmer mishandling a grounder before getting the ball to Hochevar a second too late. That marked the second time in the inning that Hosmer was involved in an error as he was unable to corral an errant Alcides Escobar throw that could have retired J.P. Arencibia.

This game marked the completion of the first half of the season, with the victory putting the Royals on pace for 74 wins with Luke Hochevar possibly heading to the DL, possibly forcing the Royals into a situation in which Jake Odorizzi would be called upon to fill Hochevar's spot in the rotation following the All-Star Break this next week.