Gausman leads Blue Jays past Royals in series finale for 3rd straight win

Kevin Gausman pitched six scoreless innings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio hit home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays won their third straight game, 6-3, over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday to take the four-game series.

Gausman (1-1) gave up just four hits to the struggling Royals, striking out seven and walking two. Kansas City did not have a runner reach second base until the sixth inning.

It wasn't an easy game for Gausman with the temperature in the low 50s Fahrenheit (around 11 degrees Celsius). But he fought through it.

"His stuff speaks for itself," Toronto manager John Schneider said. "His split was great and he located his heater really well off that. That's what good pitchers do. They make adjustments when they need to."

The Royals scored three runs in the eighth to avoid their fourth shutout of the season.

"We just continued to have good at-bats," said interim Kansas City manager Paul Hoover, who is filling in for Matt Quatraro, out with COVID-19. "It was good to see the guys string a couple together and get the heartbeat up a little bit. We had the tying run at the plate with no outs."

Adam Cimber earned his first save.

Jordan Lyles (0-2) took the loss. He struck out nine but gave up five runs on eight hits in five 2/3 innings. Five of the hits were for extra bases, including a pair of homers.

The Blue Jays wasted no time in jumping out to an early lead. Guerrero blooped a one-out single in the first, followed by a double by Daulton Varsho. Matt Chapman, the American League's leading hitter at .522 entering the game, then lined a double off the top of the wall in left to score both runners.

Biggio hit his first home run of the season into the Royals' bullpen in right for a 4-0 lead in the fourth.

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