A day after the Toronto Blue Jays ruined Johnny Cueto’s Kansas City Royals’ debut, a different, less publicized Kansas City newcomer led the Royals to victory in game 2 of a 3-game series.

Ben Zobrist, who was just 1-8 with the Royals after being acquired from the Oakland Athletics, blasted two solo home runs, doubled, scored three times and led Kansas City to a come-from-behind victory, 7-6 over Toronto.

The victory came a day after Toronto came from behind and took down the Royals in extra innings, depriving Cueto of a chance for a win in his Royals' debut.

Zobrist kicked off the scoring in the very first inning when he slammed a solo-home run into the left-field stands off of Toronto starter Mark Buehrle.

Kansas City hurler Yordano Ventura was perfect through three and two-thirds innings but came undone in the fourth inning on a Toronto 2-out rally. Four consecutive two-out singles plated two runs with RBIs coming from Justin Smoak and Dioner Navarro.

Ventura struggled in the fifth inning as well, victimized by the two-out rally again. With a runner on first and two outs, Josh Donaldson blasted a 2-run shot followed by a solo home run from Jose Bautista, staking Toronto to a solid 5-1 advantage.

However, the Royals started their rally in the sixth. Zobrist doubled with one out and a runner on first to put a pair of runners in scoring position. A hit batter loaded the bases and the Royals received a 2-run single from Eric Hosmer and an RBI single from Kendrys Morales, cutting the advantage to 5-4.

Buehrle finished seven innings and gave the game over to the bullpen. But newly acquired Mark Lowe couldn’t hold the lead. Zobrist tied the game with a solo blast and the Royals went on to put a 3-spot on the board in the eighth thanks to an RBI single from Hosmer and a sacrifice fly from Salvador Perez, pushing the Kansas City lead to 7-5.

Toronto cut the lead in half when Jose Bautista launched a solo home run in the bottom half of the eighth off of Wade Davis, who replaced Ventura. The Blue Jays didn't mount anything more in the inning as Holland retired them in order after Bautista's jack. 

The Blue Jays came very close to knotting the game up off of Royals closer Greg Holland when he issued a one-out walk and gave up a single, putting runners on first and second. A fielder’s choice moved the tying run to just 90 feet away. However, Josh Donaldson ended the comeback bid by grounding out to third base. The loss damages the Blue Jays hope at a wild-card spot as they drop to a game and a half out of the second wild-card spot, currently held by the Minnesota Twins.

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