Blue Jays beat Royals 7-1
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star
TORONTO | The last thing the Royals needed Friday night, saddled with a four-game skid and facing Toronto ace Roy Halladay, was for Zack Greinke, their own emerging ace, to cough up a fur ball.
But, boy, did he.
Greinke gave up six runs in the first three innings in a 7-1 loss to the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. It was, by far, his worst outing in 17 starts since returning last August to the rotation.
“A lot of them were bad swings,” Greinke said, “but they were hit hard. The fielders didn’t have enough time to get to them.”
Marco Scutaro delivered the killer blows with a pair of two-out, two-run singles. The first one came in the second inning and changed momentum. The second capped a four-run third that, effectively, put the game away.
“I’ve been getting out of jams all year,” Greinke said, “and I felt like I was going to get out of that first one. And I felt like I was going to get out of the next one. It just didn’t happen.”
What also didn’t happen was anything much against Halladay, who yielded one scratch run in the first inning before shifting into shutdown mode. He yielded just four hits, all singles, in pitching his fifth complete game of the year and the 36th of his career.
“He’s got a plus sinker and a plus cutter,” designated hitter Billy Butler said. “So it’s going both ways at 92-94 mph. Then he’ll throw a curve, but he could survive on just his sinker and cutter.
“He doesn’t even need his curveball. It’s just something else that messes up hitters.”
Halladay, 5-5, struck out five and walked none in a tight 104-pitch performance as he boosted his career record against the Royals to 8-3 in 13 starts.
“I don’t know how he’s got five losses,” right fielder David DeJesus said. “I guess they haven’t been scoring him any runs because everything he throws is nasty.”
The victory pulled the Blue Jays back to .500 at 25-25. The Royals, their skid at five, are a season-worst six games under .500 at 21-27.
“It was the same thing that happened in the Boston series,” manager Trey Hillman said. “In key situations, we missed in really dangerous spots. … We’ve got to pitch better.”
Greinke, 5-2, had not allowed more than three runs in any of his previous 16 starts, dating to last year, and had eight “quality starts” this season in nine outings. That included holding Toronto to one run in seven innings on April 25 at Kauffman Stadium.
The Blue Jays dominated the rematch by rapping Greinke for six runs and nine hits in five innings. Scutaro’s four RBIs matched his career high. This is the same Scutaro who had been hitless in eight previous career at-bats against Greinke.
Toronto’s 10-hit attack also included lots of production from its three-four-five hitters. Alex Rios had a single and a RBI double; Scott Rolen had two singles and two walks; and Lyle Overbay had three singles and a walk. All three scored twice.
Rolen and Overbay scored both times on Scutaro’s two-run singles. The Blue Jays completed their rout by scoring once in the seventh inning against Ron Mahay.
DeJesus opened the game with a single up the middle. He stole second, went to third on Alex Gordon’s grounder to first and scored on José Guillen’s two-out RBI single.
It was Guillen’s club-leading 35th RBI and his 20th in his last 13 games.
Who knew it was all the Royals would get?
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