*Photo from KSTP TV*
The Toronto Blue Jays are back in their true home in Canada, so they wanted to welcome their fans back with a dazzling display. Marcus Semien homered, Santiago Espinal homered, and the Blue Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals with a 5-1 win Sunday afternoon, securing the sweep in their first 3 games in Canada since the end of the 2019 season.
Semien said "We couldn’t have had a better series to start out our Toronto season. It’s finally just good to play in front of the home city. We played some good baseball, too. I think there’s better baseball to come in the next couple of months."
In the 3rd inning, George Springer got the scoring started with an RBI double to center field, scoring Reese McGuire to make it a 1-0 lead for Toronto. Semien then hit a two run homer later that inning to increase the Blue Jays lead to 3-0. In the 4th, Espinal added to it again with a solo homer to center field, and it was a 4-0 ballgame. In the 5th, Espinal drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Lourdes Gurriel Jr to make it 5-0.
For the Royals, it was a struggle all game, and all weekend, to get going against the Blue Jays, playing motivated after returning home for the first time since 2019. The Royals only run came in the 9th, when Edward Olivares hit a solo home run to left field, cutting the Toronto lead to 5-1, but that was all they could manage.
Jose Berrios got the win for the Blue Jays in his Toronto debut, allowing no runs on 5 hits, walking one and recording 7 punchouts in 6 innings pitched. Berrios improved to 8-5 on the season with the win. Trevor Richards then came on after Berrios, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Tim Mayza did the same in 1 2/3 innings, striking out 3 hitters.
Berrios said of pitching for a new team that "It was different for sure. I’ve never been in this position in my career, but every day, there’s a first time for everything and we have to handle working around it. I do my best trying to get through my routines. I had a good rest, good food, and today I came to the ballpark and did my work. That’s what I did, and thank God we came out of the game with a win."
For the Royals, Brad Keller exited early in the game, taking the loss to fall to 7-10 this season. Keller allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, striking out 3 hitters, managing just 3 innings before leaving hurt. After he departed, Josh Staumont, Jake Brentz, Richard Lovelady, Domingo Tapia, Scott Barlow, and Ervin Santana all pitched.
Keller said of his shaky start that "Maybe that was just adrenaline taking over. I think that’s anybody’s competitive nature, just keep going no matter what’s barking or what’s hurting. Hopefully it goes away before next start."
The Blue Jays welcome the Cleveland Indians to town on Monday night, with Robbie Ray getting the start in the series opening game. After a day off, the Royals face the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, with Kris Bubic starting for Kansas City.
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