By Canadian Press

Cavan Biggio and Randal Grichuk lead Blue Jays past Royals 11-4

Jul 1, 2019 | 1:04 PM

TORONTO — Cavan Biggio and Randal Grichuk drove in four batters each and Freddy Galvis had a pair of home runs as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals 11-4 on Monday in their annual Canada Day game.

Teoscar Hernandez also had a home run as Toronto (32-53) put on an offensive display in front of 29,339 fans.

Clayton Richard (1-4) picked up his first win as a Blue Jay and first win since June 22, 2018. He snapped a string of nine consecutive lost decisions. Richard delivered a quality start by pitching six innings while allowing three runs on seven hits. He struck out four batters and walked one.

The Royals (29-56) scored three of their four runs in the fourth inning.

Glenn Sparkman (2-4) struggled against the Blue Jays bats. He lasted just three innings while allowing eight runs on nine hits. He struck out a batter and walked another while surrendering three home runs.

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Toronto opened the scoring in the first inning when Biggio grounded out to score Eric Sogard from third base for a 1-0 lead. Grichuk hit an RBI single in the next at bat for a 2-0 Blue Jays lead.

Hernandez and Galvis led off the bottom of the second inning with back-to-back solo homers for Toronto, which increased its lead to 4-0. Biggio hit a two-out, two-run double which made it 6-0. The Blue Jays capped off a five-run inning when Grichuk picked up his second RBI single for a 7-0 lead.

In the third, Galvis hit his second home run of the game to give Toronto an 8-0 lead. It was Galvis’s third-career multi-homer game.

The Royals got on the board in the fourth inning. After facing the minimum amount of batters through 3 1/3 innings, Richard allowed five of the next six batters to reach base. Jorge Soler, Cheslor Cuthbert and Humberto Arteaga hit back-to-back-to-back singles to cut Toronto’s lead to 8-3.

Later in the inning, Biggio recorded his fourth RBI of the afternoon, a single which gave Toronto a 9-3 lead. Grichuk would follow with his third RBI single of the game for a 10-3 advantage.

In the sixth inning, Grichuk hit his fourth-consecutive RBI single which gave Toronto an 11-3 lead.

In the seventh, Whit Merrifield hit an RBI single which cut the Blue Jays lead to 11-4.

David Alter, The Canadian Press