Royals drenched in sadness, swept by Blue Jays 4-2

Quick hits

• Marcus Stroman was perfect through five innings
• Ian Kennedy had 10 strikeouts in six innings
• The Royals got 16 of 24 outs by the strikeout. Didn't matter.

This game was a pitcher’s duel, at least among the starters. Marcus Stroman was throwing a perfect game until the sixth inning, when Brett Eibner walked. The no-hitter was lost immediately after as Alcides Escobar lined a triple to left-center field that scored Eibner. The center fielder was shaded the other way, and the ball went to a dang deep part of the park. In fact, if not for a nifty backup play by Stroman, Escobar would have scored on a wild throw that went past third base.

Eibner put another thorn in Stroman's side in the eighth inning by lacing a dinger into the Blue Jays bullpen. That knotted the score at 2-2.

For his part, Ian Kennedy nearly matched Stroman. He threw six innings - 18 outs total - and grabbed 10 of them via the strikeout. That’s 56 percent of the outs. Unfortunately, Kennedy allowed another dinger, this time to All-Star hopeful Michael Saunders, in the bottom of the fourth. The Blue Jays scored another run on a double and a single in the fifth.

Kelvin Herrera blew it in the eighth. A double, a single, and a double from Edwin Encarnacion, Saunders, and Russell Martin scored two runs for the Jays to put them ahead going into the ninth inning. With the top of the order coming up in the ninth, the Jays sent out Roberto Osuna to lock up the win. He did, and the Blue Jays completed the sweep.

It also rained. In a dome.