Sixth Inning Awakening Sparks Royals Past Blue Jays

The Kansas City Royals defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 in the third and final game of the series on Wednesday afternoon.

This gave the Royals the series win over Toronto, as they bested the Blue Jays in 2-of-3 games. Kansas City's first victory in the month of May means a little more as it's the first time they've won a series in Toronto since 2017.

Nevertheless, it wasn't a pretty start to the series decider as both offenses were practically frozen for the first couple of hours. This was mainly due to a defensive battle/pitchers' duel between Royals' Seth Lugo and Blue Jays' Chris Bassitt.

All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in the first inning for the Blue Jays' premier hit, but Toronto failed to record another one until the seventh inning. Two walks were their only other form of reaching first base until then.

That said, Kansas City was no better, as the Royals didn't record a single hit until the sixth inning when center fielder Kyle Isbel doubled. A walk and a hit-by-pitch were their only answers until then.

But Isbel's sixth-inning hit would finally spark the Royals' bats, as third baseman Maikel Garcia followed it with a sacrifice bunt that sent Isbel to third. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. then proceeded to single up the middle to bring the game's first run in. It didn't end there as first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino doubled, catcher Salvador Perez singled and an RBI groundout by Michael Massey extended the lead to 3-0.

Bassitt's afternoon was done at the end of the thrilling sixth inning, as he finished the game allowing three runs on four hits (all in the sixth inning), a walk, and threw four strikeouts on 92 pitches.

Lugo wasn't on the mound too much longer as his second hit allowed was a solo home run by catcher Danny Jansen. He was able to strike-out the next batter after a 3-0 count, but that would be his last pitches of the afternoon. Lugo finished the game allowing one run on two hits, two walks, and threw eight strikeouts on 101 pitches.

Fortunately, Massey made sure the game wouldn't get any closer, as he blasted a three-run homer off of the right field foul pole in the eighth inning to make the score a comfortable 6-1.

Royals relievers Chris Stratton and Nick Anderson took care of business from there and Kansas City bumped their record up to 19-13.