Fresh off disaster, Jays keep bigger picture in sight vs. Royals

The Toronto Blue Jays will aim to forget a blowout loss and move closer to clinching the American League East title on Saturday night when they meet the host Kansas City Royals.

The Royals (77-77) breezed to a 20-1 romp in the opener of the three-game series on Friday night, pounding out a team-record 27 hits and batting around twice.

Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker was ejected in the first inning for protesting a close call on ball four. Manager John Schneider was tossed in the sixth for arguing about a call on a checked swing.

Despite the embarrassment, the Blue Jays maintained their three-game lead in the AL East over the Yankees after New York dropped a 4-2 decision to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.

Toronto (89-65) has lost three in a row after a six-game winning streak.

"You get your teeth kicked in tonight; you have to come out tomorrow and be ready to play," Schneider said.

The loss might have repercussions for Saturday and beyond. Max Scherzer lasted only two-thirds of an inning, allowing seven runs and seven hits.

The Blue Jays used up their bullpen and pitched catcher Tyler Heineman and infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Heineman allowed 10 runs on 13 hits in 1 1/3 innings.

The Blue Jays had a chance to clinch a postseason berth on Friday but must wait until Saturday. Meanwhile, the Royals have yet to be eliminated from postseason contention but are seven games out of a wild card with eight to play.

Toronto is scheduled to start right-hander Shane Bieber (3-1, 3.72 ERA) on Saturday. He is 6-1 with a 3.01 ERA in 15 career starts against the Royals.

Rookie left-hander Noah Cameron (8-7, 2.98) is expected to start for the Royals. In his only appearance against Toronto, he took the 4-2 loss after allowing four runs across 6 1/3 innings on Aug. 2.

Scherzer's short outing bumped his ERA to 5.06, and that might be a concern because he is slated to be in the postseason rotation.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong," he said. "I took a haymaker to the face. ... Nothing you can do in those situations. I just got beat in all facets of the game."

The Blue Jays already told Jose Berrios that he is moving from the starting rotation to the bullpen.

"He's a professional," Schneider said of Berrios. "As uncomfortable as it is, I think he gets it. You know, it's kind of where we are right now."

The Blue Jays actually took the lead on Friday when George Springer celebrated his 36th birthday by leading off the game with his 30th home run of the season.

Royals' catcher Salvador Perez also hit his 30th homer off the season, a three-run blast against Scherzer. Vinnie Pasquantino had four hits for Kansas City.

A significant development was rookie Carter Jensen batting leadoff for the first time in his major league career.

He rose to the occasion with three doubles, two in the first inning.

"We feel really good about how he controls the (strike) zone, how he understands himself and how he puts up really quality at-bats," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said before the game in explaining the move. "He is swinging the bat extremely well. It gets him one more at-bat and one more crack at it when the lineup turns over."

The Royals put reliever Lucas Erceg on the injured list with right-shoulder impingement syndrome and reinstated fellow right-hander Steven Cruz from the IL.

--Field Level Media