TORONTO (AP) — Mike Moustakas hit his 37th home run of the season, breaking Steve Balboni’s Royals record, Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield also connected and Kansas City routed the Toronto Blue Jays 15-5 on Wednesday night.
Rookie right-hander Jakob Junis (8-2) allowed four runs, two earned, in 6 1/3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA over his past eight starts.
Moustakas went 3 for 4 and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. He eclipsed Balboni’s 1985 record with a solo blast to right off Carlos Ramirez in the sixth.
Merrifield also had three hits and drove in a pair of runs as the Royals snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the second time in their past seven.
Kansas City came within a run of matching its season high. The Royals scored 16 against Detroit twice within a seven-day span in late July.
Leading 1-0, the Royals exploded for eight runs and seven hits in the second, chasing Blue Jays left-hander Brett Anderson and sending 12 batters to the plate. Alcides Escobar had a two-run single, Merrifield hit an RBI single, Eric Hosmer ended Anderson’s night with a two-run double, and Perez greeted reliever Luis Santos with his 26th home run, a two-run drive to left.
Anderson (3-4) left his previous start at Minnesota in the fifth after being bothered by a blister on his index finger. Against the Royals, he allowed eight runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings. Anderson was caught by TV cameras ripping his cap apart as he sat in the dugout after coming out of the game.
Kansas City added four more against Ramirez in the sixth, snapping the rookie’s streak of 47 2/3 scoreless innings in the minors and majors. He had pitched 10 shutout innings to begin his big league career.
Merrifield ended the streak with a leadoff homer, his 18th, Cabrera hit an RBI double, Perez drove in a run with a groundout and Moustakas added a two-out homer.
Raffy Lopez homered in the ninth for the Blue Jays.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Perez took a foul ball off his left elbow in the bottom of the seventh. Perez finished the inning but was replaced by pinch hitter Drew Butera in the eighth.
UP NEXT
Royals: LHP Jason Vargas (16-10, 4.19) pitched five innings to beat the Indians in his previous start as Kansas City snapped Cleveland’s 22-game winning streak.
Blue Jays: LHP J.A. Happ (9-10, 3.76) is 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three September starts.
— Associated Press —