Buehrle, Encarnacion lead Blue Jays to 6-2 win over Royals

Orlando’s eighth-inning solo blast turned out to be the winning run.

But the Royals battled back, from a position they couldn’t have imagined early in the game, to improve to 52-34, the most victories by the club heading into the All-Star break since the 1973 team won 55.

Blue Jays: LHP Mark Buerhle, 4-1 in his past eight starts, will start Saturday.

“Fast ball, inside”, Orlando said.

Hosmer’s line drive caromed off his right shin in the first inning, but Estrada remained in after a visit from Gibbons and the trainer. “The next at-bat I threw a better slider and he popped it up”.

With temperatures in the 90s, Orlando did not try to escape from catcher Salvador Perez’s Gatorade shower in a postgame television interview on the field.

“If the pitch was executed a little bit better, it might have been a pop up”, Young said. “It was a special moment”.

Everything that’s great and mind-boggling to watch about Buehrle, a 36-year-old contact pitcher who tops out at 84 miles per hour and frequently cites “luck” as the primary cause of his success, was on display Saturday afternoon. “I waited for that”.

Valencia entered the contest in the sixth for record-setting All-Star vote-getter Josh Donaldson.

“I saw this coming three years ago”, Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Edwin Encarnacion lofted a two-run homer in the fourth inning, ending a string of 27 scoreless frames by the Jays offence, and Jose Reyes swiped three bases.

Odorizzi (5-5) scattered two hits, walked three and struck out five over 5 2/3 innings in his initial appearance since straining his left oblique June 5.

“It was an odd game, but those are going to happen every now and then when you play a lot of games”, Bautista said.

The heat baked the dirt on the infield and that had something to do with the seven errors, but the heat also appeared to fry some brains at the same time. “It was a weird game”.

3 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 2 left on. Madson pitching. Ru. Martin safe on fielder’s choice and Infante’s error, Bautista scored, Colabello to second.

Blue Jays seventh. Encarnacion grounded out, shortstop A.Escobar to first baseman Hosmer.

Escobar’s two-out fourth inning single brought home Rios to make it 2-0.

The game continued on its twisting path over the final three innings but the runs didn’t come in bunches, and a defensive play by Perez may have been the biggest moment.

Greg Holland worked the ninth, logging his 19th save in 21 opportunities.

It couldn’t have started any better for the Royals, who rattled Toronto starter Felix Doubront for six first-inning runs. Kendrys Morales clobbered a 3-1 hanging off-speed offering into the left-field fountains for a three-run home run. That gives him 61 RBIs, second in the American League.

Eric Hosmer went 4 for 4, his first four-hit game of the season and his eighth career game with at least four hits. He will spend the four days resting, rehabbing and receiving treatment on the shoulder. “I wasn’t thinking about it. I’m going to need a few days”. “Taking advantage of this due to the break is the smart thing to do for my health, for the end of the season and finishing off strong so that’s what I’m doing”.