By Canadian Press

Singer, Lopez lead Royals past Blue Jays 9-5 for 1st win

Apr 3, 2023 | 9:14 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brady Singer pitched five effective innings, MJ Melendez hit a two-run homer and the Kansas City Royals broke loose early to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-5 on Monday night for their first victory of the season.

Nicky Lopez had a two-run triple and Bobby Witt Jr. delivered a pair of RBI singles as the Royals opened a 7-0 lead in the fourth against José Berríos and gave Matt Quatraro his first win as manager.

Singer (1-0) allowed just two hits — doubles by Toronto third baseman Matt Chapman — with three walks and three strikeouts. He is 7-0 with a 1.68 ERA in his last 10 starts at Kauffman Stadium dating to June 26 last year.

Toronto (1-3) mounted a fifth-inning charge, loading the bases with a double and a pair of walks, but Singer limited the damage with a double-play grounder that scored one run.

Kansas City was shut out twice at home by Minnesota last weekend while losing its first three games of the year. After entering with a major league-worst .133 batting average, the Royals greeted Berríos (0-1) with four first-inning hits, producing three runs and their first lead of the season.

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Berríos went 5 2/3 innings in his season debut, allowing eight runs on nine hits and striking out seven.

Lopez’s two-run triple highlighted a four-run fourth as Kansas City expanded its lead to 7-0. Melendez capped the scoring in the sixth with a two-run homer, his first of the year.

Witt also had Kansas City’s first stolen base of the year, while five Royals collected their first hits and RBIs.

Four consecutive singles off Royals relievers led to a pair of seventh-inning runs, but the Blue Jays left the bases loaded. Toronto stranded seven in scoring position, going 2-for-11 in those situations.

Bo Bichette drilled Toronto’s first home run of the year leading off the ninth. The Blue Jays had gone without a long ball in their first three games — their longest drought to begin a season.

UP NEXT

Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi and Kansas City’s Kris Bubic will make their season debuts Tuesday evening.

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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Marc Bowman, The Associated Press