TORONTO -- Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain homered and starter Jason Vargas was solid over six innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Gordon went deep off J.A. Happ in the fourth inning and Cain's two-run shot drove the Toronto starter from the game in the eighth. It was the Blue Jays' second straight loss to the Royals, who ended Toronto's nine-game winning streak a night earlier.
Jose Bautista homered for Toronto (32-24), which entered play 2 1/2 games up on second-place New York in the American League East division standings.
Vargas (5-2) allowed seven hits, one earned run and three walks while striking out seven. Happ (4-2) was tagged for six earned runs and nine hits over 7 2/3 innings. He walked two batters and had six strikeouts.
The Blue Jays threatened in the opening inning when Jose Reyes led off with a triple and Bautista drew a one-out walk. But Edwin Encarnacion popped up and Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., flew out to leave the runners stranded.
Lawrie had another opportunity in the third inning after Bautista hit a two-out single and Encarnacion walked. This time the Canadian struck out swinging.
Kansas City (26-28) scratched out a run in the second and padded its lead in the fourth when Gordon smacked a two-run shot for his fourth home run of the season.
Royals leadoff man Nori Aoki hit a ground-rule double in the fifth and stole third base with two out. Eric Hosmer lashed a comebacker at Happ who got a piece of the ball with his glove before picking it up and throwing to first to retire the side.
Bautista gave the crowd of 21,543 a charge in the fifth with his 14th home run of the season. Encarnacion followed with a two-out walk but Lawrie struck out.
Happ walked Gordon with one out in the sixth. He stole second and scored on Cain's single to restore Kansas City's three-run cushion.
The Blue Jays put two runners on in the bottom half when Dioner Navarro and Erik Kratz singled. Kevin Pillar lined out for the second out and Vargas got Reyes looking to end the inning.
Toronto brought the potential tying run to the plate in the seventh against reliever Aaron Crow. Bautista walked and Lawrie hit a two-out single but Navarro flew out.
The Royals outhit Toronto 9-8. The Blue Jays left 14 men on base and were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
Recent triple-A callup Bobby Korecky relieved Happ in the eighth and retired the lone batter he faced. With the bullpen in need of a rest, he stayed on for the ninth and retired the Royals in order.
