Music: {allcanada} SHIELDS DOMINANT AS ROYALS BLANK BLUE JAYS

Sunday, September 1, 2013

{allcanada} SHIELDS DOMINANT AS ROYALS BLANK BLUE JAYS

TORONTO -- James Shields picked up his 10th win of the season in dominating fashion, pitching seven scoreless innings as the Kansas City Royals downed the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 on Sunday.

Shields (10-8) allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out nine. He retired the first 11 Toronto batters he faced before giving up a hit to Edwin Encarnacion.

Eric Hosmer had two hits and drove in three runs to help Kansas City (70-66) salvage the finale of the three-game series. Jarrod Dyson also had two hits while former Blue Jay Emilio Bonifacio, who was traded to Kansas City two weeks ago, had two hits and scored twice.

Toronto fell to 62-75 and had its three-game winning streak come to an end.

Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ (3-5) lasted only four innings and gave up three earned runs, six hits and a walk while striking out three. Relievers Chad Jenkins and Neil Wagner combined for four scoreless frames and Dustin McGowan -- who was activated earlier in the day after rehabbing a strained oblique for the past month -- worked the ninth.

After losing in comeback fashion on Saturday, the Royals came out on the attack on a warm, sunny afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Hosmer opened the scoring with an RBI groundout that scored Bonifacio, who was walked by Happ, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher J.P. Arencibia.

Kansas City inflicted most of its damage in the third inning, sending nine men to the plate and capitalizing on a costly error that led to four runs.

Jose Reyes was called for interference when he bumped into Dyson, who was caught in a rundown between second and third base. Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., tagged the runner but the interference call put Dyson at third and he would score on a single from Alex Gordon.

The Royals added another run with an RBI from Bonifacio, and Hosmer drove in two more runs to make it 5-0 before Happ could record a single out in the frame.

Toronto's best chance to score came in the fifth inning when Rajai Davis hit a one-out triple. But Shields struck out Anthony Gose on three pitches, and got Kevin Pillar swinging to end the threat.

The Blue Jays made a couple of great defensive plays early in the game. Lawrie made a brilliant diving catch in foul territory for the first out of the game and in the second inning, Reyes snagged a sharply hit single by Salvador Perez and fired the ball to first to get the out.

Rookie Ryan Goins' eight-game hitting streak came to an end. He tied Jesse Barfield's team record for the longest hitting streak to begin a career on Saturday.

NOTES: Shields is 12-6 in his career against Toronto. ... Reliever Steve Delabar was also activated prior to the game after spending nearly a month on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. ... The Blue Jays won the season series over the Royals 4-2. ... Attendance was 22,961 ... The Blue Jays travel to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks for a three-game set beginning Monday afternoon. Esmil Rogers (3-7, 5.03 ERA) is scheduled to start against Arizona right-hander Brandon McCarthy (3-8, 3.67 ERA).