Blue Jays beat Royals 9-2, skid hits 4 of last 5
Kansas City fell 9-2 to Toronto and has lost 4 of its last 5, even as Noah Cameron and Jac Caglianone picked up AL Pitcher and Player of the Month honors for August.
Witt Jr. and Pasquantino go deep, Lynch IV can't hold it
The Royals lost 9-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays on September 4, their fourth defeat in the last 5 games. Bobby Witt Jr. went 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI, and Vinnie Pasquantino matched him, going 1-for-4 with a homer and an RBI of his own, but neither swing was enough to keep pace.
Blue Jays2-9Daniel Lynch IV took the loss on the mound, allowing 5 earned runs on 7 hits over 5 innings without recording a strikeout. The result leaves Kansas City at 63-79, 11.5 games back of the first-place White Sox in the AL Central with an elimination number of 10.
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Noah Cameron and Jac Caglianone were named the American League's Pitcher and Player of the Month for August, per Anne Rogers — the fourth time in franchise history the Royals have had both the AL's top pitcher and top player honored in the same month.
Elsewhere, right-hander Beck Way has been shut down for the remainder of the season with a back and shoulder issue, per MLB.com, closing the book on his 2026 after landing on the 15-day injured list.
Upcoming
The Royals host the Blue Jays tonight, and the pitching matchup favors Toronto on paper. Max Scherzer carries a 2-7 record but a sharp recent form, having thrown 7 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts against Seattle in his last start. Seth Lugo, at 6-8 with a 5.03 ERA, was rocked for 9 earned runs in just 3.2 innings his last time out against Cleveland and will be looking to right himself against a Toronto lineup that just put up 9 runs in Kansas City.
Kansas City is favored despite Lugo's recent struggles, and the market expects a high-scoring game — a reasonable read given a Blue Jays offense that just hung 9 runs on this pitching staff and a Royals lineup that has found the ball with Witt Jr. and Pasquantino both going deep the night before. For the number to hold, Lugo needs to look nothing like his last start.