Ervin Santana pitched seven scoreless innings, Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer and the Kansas City Royals held on to beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 Saturday night.

Santana (3-1), who was acquired in an Oct. 31 trade with Anaheim for minor-league pitcher Brandon Sisk, allowed six singles, struck out five and walked none.

Greg Holland, who logged his sixth save in seven opportunities, gave up two unearned runs in the ninth on a Michael Brantley two-out triple, which scored Mark Reynolds, who had an infield single, and Lonnie Chisenhall, who reached on Eric Hosmer’s error. Holland struck out Jason Kipnis to end the game.

The Indians have scored three runs or less in eight of their past 10 games and 13 times this season, going 3-10 in those games.

Scott Kazmir (0-1), who was making his second big league start in two years, was charged the loss. He gave up two runs on five hits, while striking out four and walking two. In his previous start, the Indians scored 19 runs and were ahead 14-0 going into the bottom of the second at Houston, but Kazmir failed to get out of the fourth inning, giving up six runs on eight hits, including two homers.

Kazmir, a two-time American League All-Star selection while with Tampa Bay, pitched last season with the Sugar Land Skeeters in the independent Atlantic League and signed a minor league contact with the Indians in January. He won a slot in the Cleveland rotation after a strong spring training.

Perez homered just inside the right-field foul pole in the second inning on an 0-1 pitch from Kazmir after he walked Jeff Francoeur.

The Indians had five base runners in the second and third innings, but failed to score.

Drew Stubbs, Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera singled in the third, loading the bases with one out. Nick Swisher grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Swisher led off the second with a single and Carlos Santana reached on a Miguel Tejada error. Ervin Santana struck out Reynolds and Chisenhall to end the threat.

The Indians used five relief pitchers in the seventh when the Royals added a run. Alex Gordon’s two-out single was the only hit. The inning included Bryan Shaw walking the only two batters he faced and Rich Hill walking Eric Hosmer, the only batter he faced, with the bases loaded to score Gordon.

Herrera replaced Santana and promptly gave up a leadoff double to Michael Brantley to lead off the eighth. Brantley went to third on a wild pitch, but was stranded.

— Associated Press —

Alex Gordon had already struck out three times when he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the 10th inning.

”I was just trying to make contact,” the Kansas City outfielder said.

He ended up hitting his first career grand slam, helping the Royals to an encouraging win at the end of a difficult road trip.

Gordon’s drive highlighted a five-run 10th for Kansas City, which rallied against the Detroit bullpen for an 8-3 victory Thursday after Tigers ace Justin Verlander left with a blister on his thumb.

George Kottaras put the Royals ahead 4-3 with a bases-loaded walk off Phil Coke (0-3). Darin Downs came on for Detroit after that, but Gordon broke the game open one out later with a homer that easily cleared the 420-foot marker on the wall in center.

”That’s a big outfield,” Gordon said. ”I think there was a storm coming in that kind of blew it out a little bit.”

The game started after a 30-minute rain delay, another interruption in an unusual trip for the Royals. Kansas City had a game at Boston last Friday postponed because of the manhunt for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

When the Royals arrived in Detroit for what was supposed to be a three-game series, the opener was rained out Tuesday.

Kansas City has not played a home game since April 14. Since then, the Royals have played seven road games in 11 days. They adjusted fine to the unexpected days off and finished the trip with a two-game split against the Tigers, leaving Comerica Park in first place in the AL Central.

The Royals went 4-3 at Atlanta, Boston and Detroit.

”This was a phenomenal road trip for us,” said right-hander James Shields, who pitched eight solid innings Thursday. ”We’re going to look back at this road trip, and I think it’s going to be a pretty crucial road trip.”

The Royals will be back home Friday night against Cleveland.

Verlander is day to day with what the Tigers said was cracked skin on his throwing thumb. He and manager Jim Leyland described the injury as a blister.

”It developed a little in my last start. Started getting a little bit worse after the fifth, and I started to notice it,” Verlander said. ”I didn’t want to risk it becoming something that I might have to deal with in my next start and the start after that, and then it turns into a month. This way, it isn’t an issue. That’s why I got out of there.”

The right-hander allowed two runs – one earned – in seven innings and left with a 3-2 lead. Bruce Rondon gave up the tying run in the eighth in his major league debut.

Tim Collins (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Royals and got the win.

Rondon, the hard-throwing 22-year-old who was a candidate in spring training to become Detroit’s closer, began the season in the minor leagues but was called up this week.

Jose Valverde is back with the Tigers, trying to show he can handle the closer spot again, and Rondon came on for the first time Thursday.

He reached 100 mph according to the Comerica Park scoreboard, but Billy Butler led off against him with a single, and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson stole second. Dyson eventually scored on Lorenzo Cain’s sacrifice fly.

Coke looked sharp in the ninth but lost his control in the 10th as rain began falling harder at Comerica. Cain doubled with one out, and Coke walked Mike Moustakas. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, Jeff Francoeur was walked intentionally, and Coke still couldn’t find the plate against Kottaras.

Downs got Chris Getz to ground into a forceout at the plate, but Gordon’s second homer of the year added four more runs.

Miguel Cabrera opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first, but Butler drove in a run with a single in the third. Butler had three hits on the day and improved to 23 for 55 (.418) off Verlander, the best mark of anyone with at least 30 at-bats against the Detroit ace.

Salvador Perez of Kansas City and Jhonny Peralta of Detroit each hit sacrifice flies in the fourth.

Torii Hunter’s run-scoring single in the fifth gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

Verlander allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out four.

Shields, acquired from Tampa Bay in an offseason trade in an effort to bolster Kansas City’s starting rotation, allowed three runs and five hits in eight innings. He walked three and struck out four.

”I felt I was in a good rhythm. I was making my pitches when I needed to,” Shields said. ”That’s a tough team over there. Even if you’re making your pitches, they’re still going to hit you. I think I minimized my damage as well as I could.”

— Associated Press —

Jose Valverde returned to Detroit with a save and Victor Martinez drove in a pair of runs to help the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 7-5 Wednesday night.

Max Scherzer (2-0) got the win, allowing five runs in five innings, with three Tigers relievers finishing the game. Valverde, called up earlier in the day, returned to the Tigers with a perfect ninth inning. Valverde lost the closing role during the postseason and wasn’t offered a contract, but signed a minor-league deal earlier this month and returned to Detroit after a short minor-league stint.

Wade Davis (2-1) gave up seven runs – but only three earned – in 3 2-3 innings. Davis allowed eight hits and four walks while only getting 11 outs.

The Tigers took the lead on Omar Infante’s RBI single in the second, but Kansas City responded with four runs in the third. Salvador Perez and Chris Getz started the inning with singles, and Alex Gordon tied the game with a double. Alcides Escobar and Billy Butler made it 3-1 with RBI singles, giving the Royals five straight hits, and Eric Hosmer drove in the fourth run with a long sacrifice fly.

The Tigers added two more in their half of the third on Martinez’s RBI double and Jhonny Peralta’s run-scoring single. Martinez tried to score from second on Peralta’s double, and was beaten so badly by Jeff Francoeur’s throw from right that he just veered off toward the dugout and was called out for leaving the basepath.

Detroit took control in the fourth when Infante scored on a Mike Moustakas error and Miguel Cabrera followed with a tie-breaking sacrifice fly. Martinez added an RBI single, chasing Davis, but Luis Mendoza walked the next two batters to force in a seventh run.

The Royals loaded the bases with no one out in the fifth, but only scored once, and couldn’t get anything after putting two runners on in the seventh.

— Associated Press —

The Boston Red Sox had the emotion and a seven-game winning streak on their side. The Kansas City Royals had the pitching and enough timely hitting to come away with a doubleheader sweep.

Lorenzo Cain walked with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to give Kansas City a 5-4 victory in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday as the Royals swept a Red Sox team coming off an emotional week.

”Doubleheaders haven’t fared too well for us. We haven’t won many series here,” said Billy Butler, who tied the game with an eighth-inning homer. ”We were real close to winning all three of them. (Daniel) Nava had the big hit yesterday, and we had the big hits today.”

Ervin Santana (2-1) pitched seven strong innings in the opener, when Kansas City won 4-2. Kelvin Herrera (2-2) got the win in the night game, a makeup of the one postponed on Friday night because of the city-wide lockdown during the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers.

Alex Gordon had three hits in the second game, including a single with one out in the 10th. Alcides Escobar walked and, after Billy Butler struck out, Eric Hosmer reached on an infield single – his fourth hit of the day.

Andrew Miller (0-1) walked Cain on four pitches to bring home Gordon, who scored his third run of the game. Herrera allowed one hit and one walk, striking out three in two innings.

”I thought we had great at-bats in crucial situations,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”It was a great at-bat right there. He laid off four pitches to plate the winning run. A lot of times guys get overanxious there.”

Boston led 4-3 before Butler tied it with his third homer of the year, clearing the Green Monster. The Red Sox put runners on first and second in the ninth, and Mike Napoli hit a long fly ball to center field but Cain caught it short of the warning track.

”He’s come up with some big hits for us in some RBI situations,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. ”Unfortunately, that last at-bat where he squares up the ball to the track in center field is somewhat of a picture of this entire day, where we miss a couple of opportunities when we had men in scoring position. And that was the difference in the two games today.”

It was a disappointing ending to an emotional weekend for the Red Sox, who returned on Thursday night with a six-game winning streak and a hometown still reeling from the Boston Marathon bombings. Friday’s game was postponed while police searched for the suspects, and on Saturday the emotion of the pregame ceremony seemed to carry the ballclub to a seventh victory in a row.

A more subdued atmosphere – and smaller crowds – greeted the teams on Sunday, but there were still some signs that things had changed: The American flag in left-center field remained at half-staff, Red Sox players wore a ”B STRONG” patch on their jerseys and law enforcement officers were cheered whenever they were shown on the scoreboard.

In his first two at bats on the day game, Jonny Gomes used a bat with the words ”Boston Strong” and the names of the four people killed in the bombings and its aftermath. He popped out and grounded out, then said he planned to auction off the bats for charity.

”It was my agent,” Gomes said, standing at his locker with the bats leaning against his stall after Boston’s 4-2 loss in the first game against Kansas City. ”He made it happen.”

For his third straight start, Santana allowed runs in the opening inning then settled down, allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Santana has given up four runs and nine hits in his first innings, and one run on 12 hits in his other 20.

”Once he gets settled in, he gets on a nice roll,” Yost said.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against Bruce Chen and Aaron Crow, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded out to Crow. Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five opportunities.

The Royals scored three runs in the fourth. Salvador Perez’s two-run single broke a 2-2 tie against Ryan Dempster (0-2), who had struck out the previous two batters.

Dempster allowed four runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking three. That ended a season-opening streak of 16 games by Red Sox starters of allowing three runs or less, tying an AL record achieved by the Oakland Athletics in 1978 and 1981.

— Associated Press —

David Ortiz has been in the middle of some of Fenway Park’s greatest moments. None of them seemed more important to ”Big Papi” than his role in one Saturday afternoon.

Ortiz helped the Red Sox honor the victims and the survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings then played in his first game since last summer, a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals capped by Daniel Nava’s three-run homer in the eighth inning.

”I try to take the positive side of things and ride with it,” Ortiz said, sitting at a table in an interview room. ”But I wanted to win this game badly.”

The Red Sox wore white home jerseys with ”Boston” on the front instead of the customary ”Red Sox.” The shirts will be auctioned off for a fund to support victims of the bombings.

Kansas City players and staff wore a ”B Strong” patch on the front of their jerseys. Neil Diamond sang Red Sox favorite ”Sweet Caroline” before the bottom of the eighth.

”I think today was different because we haven’t been through what we’ve been through this past week,” Ortiz said. ”Driving around and looking around at people’s faces, it was a very emotional day here just looking at those guys that were injured by those bombs going off and watching the news nearly every day, it was painful, very painful. Today I could see people opening their chest and letting it go.”

The 37-year-old Ortiz injured his right Achilles tendon running the bases on July 17 and appeared just once in Boston’s final 72 games, against the Royals on Aug. 24.

Ortiz was bothered by inflammation in both heels during spring training and didn’t play in any exhibition games. He was 2 for 4 in his return, tying the score 1-all with a sixth-inning RBI single off James Shields.

Following the emotional pregame ceremony, the Red Sox won their sixth straight game – four since Monday’s bombings at the marathon finish line.

”Knowing everything that went into the day for the city, for us to get the win, it came in a special way, special fashion,” Nava said. ”It made it all that more important.”

Clay Buchholz (4-0) allowed eight hits in eight innings, struck out six and walked one. Andrew Bailey allowed Lorenzo Cain’s leadoff homer over the Green Monster in the ninth, his fourth hit of the game, then got his third save when Alex Gordon hit a game-ending groundout with two on.

Cain went 4 for 4 with the solo homer, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the hot Red Sox.

”Just a fantastic finish to an otherwise great day,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said.

Cain even was moved by the pregame.

”It was electric, man,” Cain said of the ceremony. ”To go through that and see everybody getting into it and what this city went through, just to be a part of it was amazing.”

Shields gave up one run and four hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and three walks.

Buchholz extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings before Cain doubled in the fifth and scored on Jeff Francoeur’s single.

Cain doubled leading off the seventh and scored on Salvador Perez’s two-out RBI triple for a 2-1 lead. But Jonny Gomes doubled against Tim Collins starting the eighth and Dustin Pedroia walked. After Ortiz grounded into a double play, Kelvin Herrera (1-2) walked Mike Napoli on four pitches and Nava homered to right.

Herrera said it was a poorly thrown change up.

”I left in the middle,” he said. ”I paid the price.”

— Associated Press —

Dan Uggla flipped his bat to the ground. Then his helmet. Then both batting gloves.

The game was over. So was Atlanta’s winning streak.

It was that kind of day for the Braves.

Wade Davis pitched five-hit ball for seven innings, Jeff Francoeur had a fourth-inning RBI single and the Kansas City Royals stopped Atlanta’s 10-game spurt with a 1-0 victory Wednesday.

”We feel like we can win every one of them,” said Uggla, who was called out on strikes for the final out. ”We’ll just have to come back tomorrow and start another streak.”

The Braves were seeking their first 13-1 start since 1994, but the powerful Atlanta offense finally was stifled, a day after homering five times against the Royals.

Davis (2-0) didn’t walk anyone and struck out seven, and the Braves couldn’t get a runner past first base until Jason Heyward’s two-out double in the sixth. Their only serious scoring chance came in the seventh, when Juan Francisco was thrown out easily trying to score from first on a pop down the right-field line.

”My goal was to get ahead,” Davis said. ”They have a pretty good offense. I had to mix it up a lot and minimize mistakes.”

The Braves were frustrated all day by home-plate umpire Doug Eddings, who called them out on seven of their 11 strikeouts. In the seventh, Uggla walked all the way around the catcher to talk with Eddings face to face. Manager Fredi Gonzalez came a few steps out of the dugout, ready to run out in things got heated, but Uggla simply walked away after making his feelings known to Eddings.

”I’ve known Doug ever since I’ve been in the league,” Uggla said. ”He’s a good umpire. But you don’t always agree with the calls.”

The Braves had the heart of the order up in the ninth, but Greg Holland – who came in with an ERA of 12.00 – struck out the side for his third save in four chances. Justin Upton went down swinging, Evan Gattis was called out on a breaking ball that appeared a little high, and Uggla ended the game by taking another borderline pitch high in the strike zone.

Uggla stood at the plate in disbelief as Eddings headed off toward the tunnel.

Afterward, the Braves focused more on Davis’ dominant performance than any disagreements with the ump.

”Davis threw a great game,” Uggla said. ”He kept us off balance and made the pitches when he needed to make them.”

Mike Minor (2-1) had another strong outing for the Braves, allowing just five hits and the lone run in six innings. The left-hander’s ERA over three starts is 0.95.

”I felt like I was just as sharp as my last two games,” Minor said.

Neither team had pushed a runner as far as second base until the fourth, when the Royals caught a couple of breaks before Francoeur’s two-out hit.

Alcides Escobar led off with a single to right, breaking an 0-for-15 slump, but it appeared he wouldn’t be on base for long when he got stranded between first and second after a pitch. Rookie catcher Gattis tried to run at Escobar but held the ball for too long, allowing the runner to slide back into first just ahead of the throw.

Gattis pumped his fists and screamed at himself under his mask for letting Escobar off the hook.

”We talked about that in the dugout. He’s got to give it up a little sooner,” Gonzalez said. ”That’s something you’ve got to learn up here in the big leagues, the speed of the game. It was a learning moment for him.”

That turned out to be a crucial play. With two outs, Lorenzo Cain hit a little dribbler down the third-base line for an infield hit, then Francoeur came through on an 0-2 pitch, singling to left field when Minor left a change-up in the strike zone against a free-swinging batter who is prone to chase bad pitches.

Francoeur, who grew up in the Atlanta area and started his career with the Braves, relished the chance to beat his former team.

”It means a little bit more personally,” he said. ”You want to say you’re focused all the time, but there’s definitely some extra motivation coming home here for me.”

In the seventh, Atlanta put together its best scoring chance against Davis. Francisco, who homered twice against the Royals on Tuesday, singled to right with two outs for his second hit of the game. Then, Chris Johnson lofted a popup that down the right-field line that landed about a foot fair, just out of the grasp of diving second baseman Chris Getz.

But Getz hustled to his feet, tracked down the ball alongside the rolled-up tarp, and alertly spotted Francisco trying to score all the way from first. The throw to the plate was in plenty of time to get the lumbering runner.

Escobar had an error in the first, throwing high after fielding a grounder by leadoff hitter B.J. Upton, but the Royals shortstop came up with a couple of nifty defensive plays – one a barehanded grab on a grounder in the hole, another a diving stop on a wickedly hit ball by Chris Johnson to set up a double play.

— Associated Press —

Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Dan Uggla homered in the eighth inning, and Juan Francisco hit a pair of solo shots earlier in the game to help the Atlanta Braves win their 10th straight with a 6-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

Atlanta’s 10-game winning streak is its longest since the club won 15 straight from April 15-May 2, 2000. The Braves are 12-1 and off to their best start since they began the 1994 season 13-1.

Eric O’Flaherty (3-0) allowed one hit and struck out two in a scoreless eighth for the win in relief.

Heyward’s second homer, Upton’s eighth and Uggla’s third were solo shots off Kelvin Herrera (1-1), who gave up three hits, four runs and one walk in two-thirds of an inning. The Braves have outhomered opponents 25-7 and outscored opponents 68-25 for the best run differential in the majors.

Heyward hit the go-ahead homer in the eighth with an opposite-field shot into the left-field seats before Upton and Uggla followed to make it 5-2.

After Francisco walked to chase Herrera, Chris Johnson followed with an RBI single off Aaron Crow that scored pinch-runner Jordan Schafer from second.

Luis Avilan recorded the first out of the ninth before seeming to injure his left hamstring. Avilan limped slowly off the field with the help of trainer Jim Lovell and manager Fredi Gonzalez before getting carted off the field.

Closer Craig Kimbrel finished off the Royals by striking out pinch-hitter Billy Butler, giving up an RBI single to Alex Gordon and retiring Alcides Escobar on a groundout. It was a non-save situation for Kimbrel.

The Royals, who have lost three of four, led 2-1 in the fourth when Salvador Perez reached on Francisco’s throwing error, moved to second on Mike Moustakas’ single and scored on Jeff Francoeur’s RBI single.

Except for Francisco, who hit his second homer to make it 1-0 in the second and his third to tie it at 2 in the seventh, the Braves were unable to do much against Kansas City starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie.

Atlanta’s first five batters were a combined 0 for 14 with one walk and five strikeouts against Guthrie, who gave up five hits, two runs and one walk with six strikeouts in seven innings. Guthrie was trying to win his eighth straight decision dating back to last August.

Chris Getz tied it at 1 in the third off Braves starter Kris Medlen. Getz, Kansas City’s No. 8 hitter, homered for the first time in nearly four years.

Medlen, who was trying to improve to 17-3 in his career as a starter, allowed six hits and two runs – one earned – with no walks and five strikeouts in seven innings.

— Associated Press —

Ervin Santana kept the Kansas City Royals in the game, wiggling out of every jam that the Toronto Blue Jays created. Alex Gordon made all the work pay off.

The hot-hitting Gordon drove home Chris Getz with a single in the ninth inning, and the Royals beat the Blue Jays 3-2 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

”Erv gave us a chance and we just persevered at the end,” said Gordon, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a pair of base hits. ”It felt good.”

Santana pitched eight sharp innings, and Kelvin Herrera (1-0) kept the Blue Jays off the board in the ninth. Toronto brought in Darren Oliver to face three straight left-handed hitters, even though left-handed bats have been 5 for 8 against the reliever this season.

Oliver (0-1) retired Jarrod Dyson to start the ninth, but Getz doubled to right to bring up Gordon, whose single allowed Getz to slide home easily in front of the tag.

”To get a win like that, a walkoff, it’s a nice boost of energy,” Getz said. ”You don’t want to get swept, so to scratch out a game like that is nice.”

Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain also drove in runs for Kansas City.

Edwin Encarnacion homered and drove in both runs for the Blue Jays, who had won six straight and eight of 10 against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. That included a four-game sweep in their only series in Kansas City last season.

”They’re scrappy. They battle you,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ”The thing that stands out is their defense. They take away hits. In tight ball games, that makes a difference.”

The Blue Jays struck in the first inning when Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista delivered back-to-back base hits. Dyson bobbled Bautista’s routine single in center, and that sent Cabrera to third base. He scored moments later on Encarnacion’s groundout.

Dyson atoned for his miscue with a leadoff triple in the third inning. After Gordon extended his hitting streak a check-swing single that went about 15 feet, Escobar hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field that knotted the game 1-all.

Encarnacion, who’d been 5 for 44 on the season, gave Toronto the lead back in the sixth. He sent the first pitch of the inning skimming over the wall in left field for a homer.

”That’s huge,” Gibbons said. ”That’s a good sign for Eddie.”

Kansas City matched him in the bottom half, though, when Billy Butler sent a blooper to right field, reached second on a two-out single by Eric Hosmer, and then managed to chug home on Cain’s base hit to left field – the big DH looked as if he needed oxygen when he got back to the dugout.

The fact that the game was 2-all at that point was a testament to some nice defense.

And some fairly clutch pitching.

Toronto’s Brandon Morrow allowed just the two runs in six innings, at one point retiring eight straight batters. He struck out three and only issued an intentional watch.

”I didn’t have my best stuff,” he said, ”but I made a lot of good pitches and kept us in it.”

So did Santana, who put the leadoff runner aboard in the second and third innings but got some help from a pair of inning-ending double-plays. Santana also left two stranded in the fifth, thanks to a nice play by Dyson of tracking down Emilio Bonifacio’s fly ball in center field.

His greatest Houdini act may have come in the eighth, when Santana walked Encarnacion to put runners on first and second with two outs. He struck out J.P. Arencibia to escape the inning.

That gave Getz and Gordon the opportunity to win the game.

”I have confidence in my offense,” Santana said. ”We have a lot of young talent. I know they can get the job done.”

— Associated Press —

After finding out Jose Reyes likely will be sidelined until the All-Star break, R.A. Dickey won his first game for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The NL Cy Young Award winner allowed one run and five hits in 6 1-3 innings Saturday night, and Jose Bautista backed him with a two-run homer in the Blue Jays’ 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals.

James Shields (1-2) was a hard-luck loser for the Royals, pitching a two-hitter with six strikeouts and three walks.

Acquired from the New York Mets after going 20-6 last season, Dickey was 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA in his first two starts for Toronto. Against the Royals, the knuckleballer struck out four, walked two and hit a batter, throwing 64 of 100 pitches for strikes.

— Associated Press —

Jose Reyes heard a pop in his left ankle as he awkwardly slid into second base. After that, everything else was a blur to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.

The trainers lifted their star shortstop onto a cart, and the cart drove through the bullpen gate in right field. The sight was of Reyes, his ankle heavily bandaged, being pushed out of their clubhouse after an 8-4 win over the Kansas City Royals, on his way to have an MRI exam.

The sound of general manager Alex Anthopoulos on the phone with other GMs, already trying to make a deal for a replacement amid the sobering news that Reyes could be out up to three months.

”It’s on everybody’s mind,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ”Doesn’t matter if he’s on our team or another team, in the baseball world – the baseball community – your heart goes out to whoever it might be. In this case, he’s one of the top guys in the game.”

Reyes had just driven in two runs with a base hit when he was attempting to steal second base in the sixth inning. He appeared to be indecisive about whether to go in sliding or standing, and made the late choice to hit the dirt, his trailing ankle twisting cruelly beneath him.

Reyes slid over the bag, and then rolled around on the dirt, screaming in pain. Trainers for both teams ran out to help him while a green cart was driven in from the outfield.

”It didn’t look good, obviously,” Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ said.

Anthopoulos said the results of the MRI exam may not be known until Saturday, and while the initial diagnosis was a sprained left ankle, the GM acknowledged Reyes is headed for the disabled list and that it could be months before he is back in the lineup.

”You never want to see it, but at the same time, you’ve been through enough to know it’s going to happen over the course of the season,” Anthopoulos said.

”If it’s good news, you’re looking at four weeks,” he said. ”The other scenario could be three months, or if something comes up we’re not expecting, it could be more than that.”

Happ (2-0), the only Blue Jays starter to win this season, gave up three runs on 41 pitches in the first inning. But he survived a couple shaky stretches to last four more frames, and Aaron Loup went the final three innings for his first career save.

Adam Lind and Emilio Bonifacio also drove in two runs each for the Blue Jays, who hammered the Royals’ Luis Mendoza (0-1) for eight runs – seven of them earned – in just 5 2-3 innings.

”He really struggled to get the feel of his breaking ball, struggled to keep it down in the zone,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”There were some times he was trying to bounce it and couldn’t do it. It was just one of those nights. He wasn’t near as sharp as he was in Philly.”

Lorenzo Cain drove in a pair of runs for Kansas City, which couldn’t overcome some shaky pitching and even shakier defense. The Royals committed three errors, matching their season total.

Toronto struck first for just the second time all season when J.P. Arencibia’s single to left and a double by Lind down the right-field line gave the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

The Royals answered back with three in the bottom half.

Salvador Perez’s single to right drove in the first run. Happ loaded the bases moments later, earning a visit from Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker, and then watched Cain smack the first pitch he saw to center field to give Kansas City a 3-2 lead.

Bonifacio pulled the Blue Jays back ahead in the second when he doubled off the wall in right to drive in a run. The speedster headed for third on the throw to the plate, and then scored when Perez threw the ball down the left-field line – the catcher’s second error of the game.

Lind delivered a sacrifice fly in the third to extend the Blue Jays’ lead, and Alcides Escobar matched him with a double in the fifth to pull Kansas City back within 5-4.

Bonifacio’s two-out double in the sixth gave Toronto its two-run cushion back. Luke Hochevar came in to relieve Mendoza, and Reyes followed with a two-run single to make the score 8-4.

That’s when the star shortstop attempted to steal second.

The momentum of his late slide carried him over the base, and his ankle twisted backward as second base umpire Marvin Hudson signaled safe. Reyes screamed in pain, and then pulled the front of his blue jersey over his face as trainers from both teams ran out onto the infield.

A hush fell over the crowd, and Blue Jays’ clubhouse was so quiet that it seemed as if they had lost the game rather than won when it opened shortly after the final out was made.

”Jose is great. He’s a big part of this team. I can’t emphasize that enough,” Anthopoulos said. ”Every team goes through these things. I don’t believe we’re a team built on one player, no matter how great a player it is. Just continue to move forward.”

— Associated Press —