Royals rally to beat Blue Jays 8-6 in 10

TORONTO — On the day they changed their batting coach, every hitter in the Kansas City Royals’ lineup banged out at least one hit.

None was bigger, however, than Omar Infante’s two-run single in the 10th inning.

Infante had two hits and three RBIs and the Royals overcame two home runs by Edwin Encarnacion to beat the Blue Jays 8-6 on Thursday night, snapping Toronto’s winning streak at nine games.

The Royals had 14 hits on the same day they shook up their staff, making Dale Sveum the hitting coach and Mike Jirschele their third base coach. Pedro Grifol, who took over as hitting coach last season, was reassigned as a catching instructor.

Manager Ned Yost saw an immediate improvement in Kansas City’s offense, which came in having scored the fewest runs in the AL.

“They sure looked a lot better tonight,” Yost said. “That’s kind of what you hope for. You get a different voice and it kind of snaps everybody back to reality a little bit.”

Facing Todd Redmond (0-4), Alcides Escobar singled to begin the 10th. Pedro Ciriaco was hit on the front of the helmet while squaring to bunt and Nori Aoki advanced the runners with a sacrifice before Infante lined a single just over the reach of leaping third baseman Brett Lawrie.

Wade Davis (4-1) worked two innings for the win and Greg Holland closed it out for his 15th save in 16 chances.

The Blue Jays were on the verge of victory in the ninth before the Royals tied it with an unearned run off Casey Janssen, who blew a save for the first time in nine chances.

“We were looking at two outs, nobody on in the ninth and darned if we didn’t make it work,” Yost said.

After Jose Bautista threw out Billy Butler at first base from right field for the second out, Alex Gordon singled to left and was replaced by pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson, who stole second and scored when Encarnacion couldn’t handle an errant, bouncing throw from shortstop Jose Reyes on Salvador Perez’s grounder.

“There’s no excuse,” Reyes said. “I should make a better throw there. That’s a routine ground ball, I got it perfect. I just didn’t have enough on the throw.”

Reyes batted with a runner on in the 10th but couldn’t atone for his gaffe, striking out looking to end it.

Perez hit a solo homer in the second for the Royals who snapped a four-game skid and avoided matching their longest losing streak of the season.

“We were facing a hot team that had swept their last three teams,” Dyson said. “I thought we did a great job to come over here and kind of break that up a little bit and get going.”

Encarnacion matched a major league record with his fifth multihomer game in a month. Albert Belle did it in September 1995 and Harmon Killebrew in May 1959.

“I don’t know where it goes down in history, but it’s pretty historic in my mind,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

The blasts were Encarnacion’s 15th and 16th in May, breaking Bautista’s team record for homers in a month. Bautista hit 14 in June, 2012.

“Encarnacion is probably the hottest hitter on the planet right now,” Yost said.

The major league record for home runs in May is 17, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. Encarnacion has two games remaining this month.

Encarnacion has 18 total homers, second in the majors to Baltimore’s Nelson Cruz, who entered play Thursday with 19.

Both of Encarnacion’s homers, which came in the fourth and sixth innings, were two-run shots into the second deck, and both came off Royals right-hander James Shields.

Bautista added a two-run shot in the first as the Blue Jays boosted their major league-leading total to 79. Toronto has hit at least one home run in 11 of the past 12 games.

Shields came in having won four straight decisions and was 6-1 with a 1.13 ERA in his past eight starts against Toronto, but couldn’t duplicate that success. He allowed six runs and eight hits in seven innings, including a season-worst three homers. Shields walked none and struck out six.

Toronto’s R.A. Dickey allowed five runs and a season-worst 10 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

TIGERS 5, ATHLETICS 4

OAKLAND, Calif. — Miguel Cabrera hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth to back Rick Porcello’s eighth victory, and Detroit salvaged a split of the four-game series between division leaders.

Porcello (8-2) overcame a career-high six walks, three shy of his season total coming into Thursday’s start. Joe Nathan earned his 13th save after allowing Josh Donaldson’s leadoff double, an RBI infield single by Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick’s run-scoring double.

It was Nathan’s first outing since he surrendered Donaldson’s game-ending three-run homer in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss for his fourth blown save opportunity.

Victor Martinez doubled home two runs in the seventh and Cabrera also had an RBI groundout for the Tigers, who head to Seattle for the weekend before returning home.

Nick Punto hit a two-run homer in the fourth for Oakland, which wasted chances all game to lose for only the seventh time in 20 games. Jesse Chavez (4-3) lost consecutive starts for the first time this season following a two-game winning streak.

RANGERS 5, TWINS 4

MINNEAPOLIS —Leonys Martin doubled twice and scored three times, including the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and Texas won its second straight four-game series on the road.

Shin-Soo Choo hit a three-run double in the second for the Rangers, but the Twins took a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning on Josh Willingham’s first home run of the season, a no-doubt drive to the second deck above left-center field.

Alexi Ogando (2-2) got four outs for the victory, and Joakim Soria retired the last two batters for his 10th save. Soria saved the last two games of the series after he had his first blown chance of the season in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss.

Martin hit a leadoff double in the eighth against Casey Fien (3-2), moved up on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Rougned Odor’s sacrifice fly. Texas has won eight of 11.

ANGELS 7, MARINERS 5

SEATTLE —Erick Aybar hit a three-run homer, Matt Shoemaker pitched effectively into the sixth inning and the Angels beat the Mariners.

Recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday, Shoemaker (3-1) set down the side in order four times in 5 1-3 innings. He allowed three runs on four hits, equaled a career-high six strikeouts and did not walk a batter for the first time in five career starts.

Brandon Maurer (1-4) lasted just four innings, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks. It’s the fifth time in seven starts this season that Maurer has failed to reach the fifth inning.

HOUSTON 3, BALTIMORE 1

HOUSTON — George Springer hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning, and the Astros extended their winning streak to six with a victory over the Orioles.

Springer’s shot to left off Preston Guilmet (0-1) extended the rookie’s hitting streak to 11 games and was his seventh homer in his last seven games.

Brad Peacock allowed a run on six hits with eight strikeouts in six innings.

Josh Fields (1-3) threw two scoreless innings for the win, and Chad Qualls pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Baltimore’s Ubaldo Jimenez allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in six innings.

INTERLEAGUE

RED SOX 4, BRAVES 3

BOSTON — Tommy La Stella’s failure to catch a force attempt at second base allowed Jackie Bradley Jr. to score from second with none out in the ninth inning, giving the Red Sox their fourth straight win after a 10-game skid.

The Red Sox took advantage of two more Atlanta errors to score twice in the eighth to tie it 3-all and set up closer Koji Uehara (1-1) for the win.

Bradley and Brock Holt drew back-to-back walks off closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1). Xander Bogaerts followed with a hard grounder to Chris Johnson at third base for an infield single. Johnson stopped it and made a strong throw but Stella missed the catch with Holt bearing down.

GIANTS 6, CARDINALS 5

ST. LOUIS — Michael Morse homered and drove in three runs and Pablo Sandoval homered and scored twice to lift San Francisco.

The Giants have won seven of eight and the Cardinals have dropped three of four to start a nine-game home stand.

Gregor Blanco scored from second on Angel Pagan’s single to center off Carlos Martinez (0-3) to tie the score at 4-all in the eighth. Pagan moved to second on Peter Bourjos’ throwing error. After Sandoval was intentionally walked, Morse doubled to deep center to drive in Pagan and Sandoval for a 6-4 lead.

Javier Lopez (1-0) got two groundouts in relief of Ryan Vogelsong for his first win since Sept. 22, 2013.

METS 4, PHILLIES 1

PHILADELPHIA — Chris Young hit a two-run homer and Zack Wheeler struck out nine in 6 1-3 innings to lead the Mets over the Phillies in the opener of a rare five-game series.

The Mets, who opened an 11-game road trip, matched a season best with their third straight victory while beating the Phillies for the sixth straight time at Citizens Bank Park.

Marlon Byrd homered for the Phillies, who struck out a season-high 15 times.

The series originally was scheduled for four games, but the teams will make up their April 30 rainout on Monday, which originally was a day off for both teams.

Wheeler (2-5) retired eight of the first 10 batters via strikeout.

David Buchanan (1-1) left after giving up four runs — three earned — and seven hits with two strikeouts and walks.

DIAMONDBACKS 4, REDS 0

PHOENIX — Josh Collmenter faced the minimum in a three-hitter, Aaron Hill homered and had two RBIs and the Diamondbacks beat the light-hitting Reds.

Collmenter (4-2) breezed through his first career complete game, joining Randy Johnson as the only Arizona pitcher to face the minimum 27 batters in a nine-inning game. Johnson did it during his perfect game against Atlanta in 2004.

Hill had three hits, including a solo homer in the sixth inning off Tony Cingrani (2-5). A.J. Pollock had a double, a triple and scored two runs from the leadoff spot for the Diamondbacks, who have won five of seven.

PIRATES 6, DODGERS 3

LOS ANGELES — Josh Harrison’s second RBI single triggered a three-run seventh inning, Russell Martin and Pedro Alvarez homered and the Pirates won for only the third time in their last 20 games at Dodger Stadium.

Former UCLA star Gerrit Cole (5-3) allowed three runs and six hits over 6 1-3 innings in his first career appearance at Chavez Ravine. The right-hander helped set up two runs with sacrifice bunts.

Jason Grilli got three outs for his sixth save.

Brandon League (1-2) ended a stretch of 16 appearances and 22 innings in which he did not allow an earned run.