TORONTO (AP) — On the day they changed their batting coach, every hitter in the Kansas City Royals’ lineup banged out at least one hit.

None was bigger, however, than Omar Infante’s two-run single in the 10th inning.

Infante had two hits and three RBIs and the Royals overcame two home runs by Edwin Encarnacion to beat the Blue Jays 8-6 on Thursday night, snapping Toronto’s winning streak at nine games.

The Royals had 14 hits on the same day they shook up their staff, making Dale Sveum the hitting coach and Mike Jirschele their third base coach. Pedro Grifol, who took over as hitting coach last season, was reassigned as a catching instructor.

Manager Ned Yost saw an immediate improvement in Kansas City’s offense, which came in having scored the fewest runs in the AL.

“They sure looked a lot better tonight,” Yost said. “That’s kind of what you hope for. You get a different voice and it kind of snaps everybody back to reality a little bit.”

Facing Todd Redmond (0-4), Alcides Escobar singled to begin the 10th. Pedro Ciriaco was hit on the front of the helmet while squaring to bunt and Nori Aoki advanced the runners with a sacrifice before Infante lined a single just over the reach of leaping third baseman Brett Lawrie.

Wade Davis (4-1) worked two innings for the win and Greg Holland closed it out for his 15th save in 16 chances.

The Blue Jays were on the verge of victory in the ninth before the Royals tied it with an unearned run off Casey Janssen, who blew a save for the first time in nine chances.

“We were looking at two outs, nobody on in the ninth and darned if we didn’t make it work,” Yost said.

After Jose Bautista threw out Billy Butler at first base from right field for the second out, Alex Gordon singled to left and was replaced by pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson, who stole second and scored when Encarnacion couldn’t handle an errant, bouncing throw from shortstop Jose Reyes on Salvador Perez’s grounder.

“There’s no excuse,” Reyes said. “I should make a better throw there. That’s a routine ground ball, I got it perfect. I just didn’t have enough on the throw.”

Reyes batted with a runner on in the 10th but couldn’t atone for his gaffe, striking out looking to end it.

Perez hit a solo homer in the second for the Royals who snapped a four-game skid and avoided matching their longest losing streak of the season.

“We were facing a hot team that had swept their last three teams,” Dyson said. “I thought we did a great job to come over here and kind of break that up a little bit and get going.”

Encarnacion matched a major league record with his fifth multihomer game in a month. Albert Belle did it in September 1995 and Harmon Killebrew in May 1959.

“I don’t know where it goes down in history, but it’s pretty historic in my mind,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

The blasts were Encarnacion’s 15th and 16th in May, breaking Bautista’s team record for homers in a month. Bautista hit 14 in June, 2012.

“Encarnacion is probably the hottest hitter on the planet right now,” Yost said.

The major league record for home runs in May is 17, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. Encarnacion has two games remaining this month.

Encarnacion has 18 total homers, second in the majors to Baltimore’s Nelson Cruz, who entered play Thursday with 19.

Both of Encarnacion’s homers, which came in the fourth and sixth innings, were two-run shots into the second deck, and both came off Royals right-hander James Shields.

Bautista added a two-run shot in the first as the Blue Jays boosted their major league-leading total to 79. Toronto has hit at least one home run in 11 of the past 12 games.

Shields came in having won four straight decisions and was 6-1 with a 1.13 ERA in his past eight starts against Toronto, but couldn’t duplicate that success. He allowed six runs and eight hits in seven innings, including a season-worst three homers. Shields walked none and struck out six.

Toronto’s R.A. Dickey allowed five runs and a season-worst 10 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Houston Astros got a good glimpse of what could happen if Chris Carter and George Springer are hitting well at the same time.

Carter connected for two home runs, Springer set a rookie club record for homers in a month and the Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 9-3 Wednesday for their fifth straight win.

The Astros have been waiting for Carter to take off after he hit 29 home runs last year.

“This guy led our offense in home runs and RBIs last year. He had been hot and cold, but we all know when he’s hot, he can carry a ballclub because we’ve seen him do it,” Astros manager Bo Porter said.

“We definitely would love to get him going. That would be an added boost to our team,” he said.

Carter, who had been benched the previous three games with a .192 batting average, homered to lead off the fifth. He hit a three-run homer in sixth off reliever Louis Coleman for his fourth career multihomer game and his first this season.

“He sat for three days, worked extremely hard in the cage and watched a lot of video,” Porter said. “He came in today with a good game plan and understanding the things in which he’s worked on the last few days.”

“I always say this: It’s good from a coaching standpoint you put in effort with a guy and the next time he gets in the lineup you see it pay off. That’s good for the player to see the immediate results of the work which he’s putting in” he said.

Springer homered off Danny Duffy (2-5) in the first for his ninth home run in May. Glenn Davis held the Astros’ rookie record with eight home runs in September 1985. Springer also walked twice and was hit by a pitch.

“Our offense is better,” Carter said. “It’s been coming around really good. George has six home runs in six games. I’m happy for him. I think we have something going here.”

The Astros, with the worst record in the AL, won three times in Kansas City for their first sweep of the season. Houston’s winning streak is its longest since a six-game string that ended last June 3.

The Royals have lost four in a row.

“It’s just a bad series, unfortunately, it happened at home,” Royals designated hitter Billy Butler said. “It’s a tough go right now.”

Carlos Corporan had three hits with a walk. He drove in a run as the Astros outscored the Royals 21-5 in the series.

Jarred Cosart (4-4) gave up one earned run and four hits in five innings, but was pulled when his pitch count reached 95.

“I chose a good day to go five and the offense scored nine runs,” Cosart said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. The offense came out scoring early. I felt pretty good out there. I had a couple of innings with high pitch counts. We have a five-game winning streak going. We’ve got momentum. We’re going back home to our own ballpark.”

Duffy allowed six runs on seven hits and five walks in four-plus innings. The first four Royals pitchers combined to walk 10, which was a season high.

“He just didn’t have anything going for him today,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “His fastball was down to 88-92 (mph) and we kept checking and asking if he was OK. He was fine, but he was going through a little dead arm. He was throwing hard, but it just wasn’t coming out. We had to kind of ride it. We didn’t have any bullpen help.”

Brett Hayes singled in the Kansas City fifth to snap an 0-for-27 skid to begin the season. He homered in the seventh, the Royals’ first home run in nine games.

— Associated Press —