Gausman leads Blue Jays to third straight win over Royals, 6-3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kevin Gausman pitched six scoreless innings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio hit home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays won their third straight game, 6-3, over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday to take the four-game series.

Gausman (1-1) gave up just four hits to the struggling Royals, striking out seven and walking two. Kansas City did not have a runner reach second base until the sixth inning.

“I felt pretty good with the split today,” Gausman said. “I felt like I had good command that got better as the game went on. It’s a good pitch for me.”

It wasn’t an easy game for Gausman with the temperature in the low 50s Fahrenheit (around 11 degrees Celsius). But he fought through it.

“His stuff speaks for itself,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “His split was great and he located his heater really well off that. That’s what good pitchers do. They make adjustments when they need to.”

The Royals scored three runs in the eighth to avoid their fourth shutout of the season.

“We just continued to have good at-bats,” said interim Kansas City manager Paul Hoover, who is filling in for Matt Quatraro, out with COVID-19. “It was good to see the guys string a couple together and get the heartbeat up a little bit. We had the tying run at the plate with no outs.”

Adam Cimber earned his first save.

Jordan Lyles (0-2) took the loss. He struck out nine but gave up five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Five of the hits were for extra bases, including a pair of homers.

The Blue Jays wasted no time in jumping out to an early lead. Guerrero blooped a one-out single in the first, followed by a double by Daulton Varsho. Matt Chapman, the American League’s leading hitter at .522 entering the game, then lined a double off the top of the wall in left to score both runners.

The Jays added to their lead in the second on a two-out single by Bo Bichette scoring Kevin Kiermaier.

Biggio hit his first home run of the season into the Royals’ bullpen in right for a 4-0 lead in the fourth.

“(Lyles) struck the first two batters out and got ahead 0-2,” Biggio said. “I was trying to battle and trying to protect. I didn’t want to let him get me on a two-seamer. He left one over the plate and I put a good swing on it.”

Guerrero extended the lead to 5-0 in the fifth with a 436-foot home run to left center to go deep for the second time in as many days.

“He’s really staying within himself,” Schneider said. “Even when he’s making an out, he’s knowing what he’s doing and just missing. His approach is awesome.”

Toronto used three straight singles in the seventh to plate its sixth run. Varsho’s RBI single drove in Bichette.

The Royals finally got on the board in the eighth, when Bobby Witt Jr. hit the left-field foul pole for his first home run of the season. Vinnie Pasquantino had an RBI single and Edward Olivares added an RBI double. But with runners on second and third with no outs, the Royals could not score again.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: Toronto continues its season-opening road trip with a three-game series in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels. RHP Chris Bassitt (0-1, 24.30 ERA) will get the start for the Blue Jays. The Angels will counter with LHP Patrick Sandoval (1-0, 1.80 ERA).

Royals: Kansas City also heads west for its first road series of the season in San Francisco against the Giants. RHP Brad Keller (0-1, 3.86 ERA) will face RHP Alex Cobb (0-0, 2.45 ERA).

NEW YORK — With the stench of smoke permeating Yankee Stadium and wafting through its walkways, Major League Baseball postponed games in New York and Philadelphia on Wednesday night because of poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires.

A National Women’s Soccer League game in New Jersey and an indoor WNBA game set for Brooklyn were also called off Wednesday amid hazy conditions that have raised alarms from health authorities.

The New York Yankees’ game against the Chicago White Sox was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader starting at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the Detroit Tigers was reset for 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, originally a day off for both teams.

“These postponements were determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and all of the impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities,” MLB said in a statement.

The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for New York City, saying: “the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.” In Philadelphia, the NWS issued a Code Red.

The Yankees and White Sox played through a lesser haze on Tuesday night. A day later, stadium workers and fans arriving early to the ballpark wore face masks for protection in a scene reminiscent of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was business as usual for me coming in. I got in around 12, 12:30, and didn’t really think too much of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I actually walked outside about 2 o’clock and was like – like everyone else, like – whoa.”

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol thought MLB made the right decision postponing the game.

“These are health issues, right? So this has got to be it. We’ve been through everything – snow, rain, hail. I don’t think I’ve been through something like this,” he said. “Today at one point, it was pretty bad out there. We walked out of the dugout and it was kind of orange. They did the right thing. They got all the information.

“I’m assuming if Major League Baseball is comfortable setting up a doubleheader tomorrow, they have some type of information that it should be better than what it is today, or at least safe.”

In Philadelphia, the Phillies beat the Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday night in a game played in hazy conditions with the smell of smoke in the air. Afterward, manager Rob Thomson and his Phillies players said the conditions didn’t affect them.

About a half-hour before Wednesday’s postponement, Thomson said he thought the game would be played. But the Philadelphia skyline could not be seen from the ballpark in the afternoon, and the smoky smell remained.

Minor league teams nearby also changed plans. The Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania, and the Mets’ top farm club in Syracuse, New York, postponed their games for the second consecutive night.

The Mets’ High-A affiliate in Brooklyn completed a game Wednesday against Greenville that began at 11 a.m.

The WNBA called off a game between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, saying the decision was made to “protect the health and safety of our fans, teams and community.” A makeup date wasn’t immediately announced.

Even inside Barclays Center at the morning shootaround, reporters could smell smoke in the arena.

The NWSL postponed Orlando’s match at Gotham in Harrison, New Jersey, from Wednesday night to Aug. 9.

“The match could not be safely conducted based on the projected air quality index,” the NWSL said.

At nearby Belmont Park, the New York Racing Association said training went on as planned Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s Triple Crown horse race. However, NYRA canceled training Thursday morning at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate “due to poor air quality conditions forecast to impact New York State overnight and into Thursday morning.”

NYRA said a decision about Thursday’s live racing program, scheduled to begin at 3:05 p.m., will be made Thursday morning “following a review of the air quality conditions and forecast.”

“NYRA utilizes external weather services and advanced on-site equipment to monitor weather conditions and air quality in and around Belmont Park,” spokesman Patrick McKenna said Wednesday. “Training was conducted normally today, and NYRA will continue to assess the overall environment to ensure the safety of training and racing throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.”

New York’s NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, both had Wednesday off from offseason workouts. The Giants had been planning to practice inside Thursday, and the Jets said they are also likely to work out indoors Thursday.

Youth sports in the area were also affected, with parents quick to voice concern about their children’s safety outdoors.

In a statement Wednesday, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association said schools should understand that all schedules were subject to change.

“NJSIAA is closely monitoring air quality data across New Jersey and local/state health advisories. As start times for athletic events draw near, we will make decisions for each venue and sport based on currently available information,” the organization said.

It’s not the first time in recent years that wildfires forced changes to the MLB schedule. A two-game series in Seattle between the Mariners and Giants was moved to San Francisco in September 2020 because of poor air quality caused by West Coast wildfires.

About an hour after Wednesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium was postponed, two fans visiting on vacation from Vancouver, British Columbia, were still lingering outside the ballpark.

“It’s just circumstances. What do I say? It makes me disappointed because this is one of the highlights of the trip,” said Malcolm, who was in town with his daughter and didn’t want to give his last name.

“I have a heart condition. That’s the only reason I’m wearing two masks and whatever. And my personal thought is that, why wasn’t it canceled two days ago? Because we knew about all this two days ago. But having said that, I don’t want the players running around and putting out in this, too. It can’t be good for them.”