Royals 10, Blue Jays 7
Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer and added a go-ahead two-run double in a six-run eighth inning as Kansas City rallied to defeat visiting Toronto in the opener of a three-game series.
Trailing 5-4 in the eighth, the Royals surged ahead for good as Perez lined a one-out double down the left-field line, scoring Eric Hosmer and Jimmy Paredes ahead of him. Jarrod Dyson and Norichika Aoki added insurance runs with RBI singles and Omar Infante capped the late uprising with a two-run single to shallow left to help make a winner out of reliever Aaron Crow (1-1), who worked a scoreless eighth.
Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer in the ninth, Jose Bautista added a solo shot and Melky Cabrera doubled, tripled and drove in a pair of runs while setting a Toronto franchise record for hits in the first month of the season. Brett Cecil (0-2) absorbed the loss after giving up two runs on two hits over two-thirds of an inning.
Bautista put the visitors ahead in the first, drilling a Jason Vargas offering on a line into the left-field seats for his eighth home run of the season. Dustin McGowan's wild pitch allowed Billy Butler to race home with the tying run in the second, and the Royals jumped in front after catcher Dioner Navarro launched the ball into center field on an Alcides Escobar stolen base attempt, allowing Alex Gordon to score.
Toronto regained the lead in the fifth after Jose Reyes hit a one-out double and scored on Cabrera's triple to right, and Cabrera promptly came home on Vargas' wild pitch. The Blue Jays manufactured some insurance in the seventh on Reyes' run-scoring single and Cabrera's RBI double, but Perez trimmed the deficit in the bottom half with a two-run blast into the left-field stands for his second homer of the year.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Cabrera has 41 hits before May 1, breaking the club mark he had shared with Shannon Stewart (2001) and Shea Hillenbrand (2005). ... Rain delayed the opening pitch 27 minutes. ... Vargas was charged with five runs on 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings. McGowan tossed six frames, limiting Kansas City to three runs - two earned - on three hits.