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Royals edge Jays 5-4 in 10 innings

Jul 20, 2010 - 4:10 AM KANSAS CITY, Mo.(AP) -- Alberto Callaspo was the only starter on either team without a hit when he came to the plate in the 10th inning. His only hit of the game turned out to be the most important one.

Callaspo's RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning lifted Kansas City to a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night and snapped the Royals' six-game losing streak.

"I hit the ball good all night long and I was just trying to find the hole," Callaspo said. "I was trying to get a pitch to drive the ball and finally I get it and help us win.

Scott Podsednik led off the 10th with a triple to right-center and scored on Jason Kendall's sacrifice fly to tie the game. Blue Jays closer Kevin Gregg (0-4) suffered his third blown save in 25 opportunities.

With two outs in the inning, Gregg walked Billy Butler and Jose Guillen. Callaspo then singled up the middle scored Chris Getz, who ran for Butler.

Toronto had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the inning when Fred Lewis scored on Jose Bautista's single off Kyle Farnsworth (3-0).

The Blue Jays ran themselves out of a run in the fourth. With Adam Lind on second and Vernon Wells on third, Lyle Overbay flied out to David DeJesus in center, which was deep enough for Wells to score. Lind, however, opted to try to take third on the fly and was thrown out before Wells could cross the plate.

"That throw was huge," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "It saved the game for us at that point. It was key to come up throwing to third and he nipped the runner before the run could cross the plate.

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston was not pleased with Lind's base running miscue.

"We didn't run the bases properly," Gaston said. "We did a lot of bad things tonight that fundamentally is not good. You can't win like that. We did not deserve to win that ball game and we did not.

"We could have had a lot more runs tonight. I know sometimes you're not going to get hits to drive in runs, but just run the bases properly and we've got more runs."

Yunel Escobar, who was acquired in a July 14 trade with Atlanta, homered with two outs in the second. He has homered in back-to-back games and has seven RBIs in that span.

John Buck, who spent the previous six seasons with the Royals, made it 3-1 in the seventh with an RBI single.

The Royals tied it in the bottom of the inning on Yunieksy Betancourt's RBI ground out and Jason Kendall's run-scoring infield single.

Brett Cecil gave up three runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings.

"For the most part I think I pitched pretty well, just tough luck on the end," Cecil said.

Royals starter Kyle Davies, who is winless in eight starts since a May 28 victory at Boston, gave up three runs on 10 hits in seven innings.

"I think the important thing was our pitchers did a great job of limiting their opportunities." Yost said. "Kyle did a great job of keeping us in the game. He didn't walk anybody. He did give up a two-run home run on actually a pretty darn good pitch. You've got to take your hat off to Escobar for hitting that one out."

Notes: Blue Jays DH Adam Lind singled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games, one shy of his career best. The Royals announced attendance of 12,968 Monday brought their season total to 905,080 for 43 home dates. The Royals went over the million mark, 1,017,012, on their 43rd home date last year. Royals RHP Gil Meche, who is on the 60-day disabled list with a shoulder injury, is scheduled to join Double-A Northwest Arkansas Wednesday for a minor league injury rehab assignment.