Kansas City @ Toronto preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 31, 2015 ) Kansas City 6, Toronto 7

Perhaps no two teams did more to improve their chances to make a deep postseason run in the week leading up to the trade deadline than the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals. The revitalized Blue Jays have rewarded the front office’s faith with their recent play against the Royals and eye a series victory on Saturday when they host the third of four games against Kansas City.

After stunning many by dealing for five-time All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, former Cy Young Award winner David Price and reliever LaTroy Hawkins, Toronto completed its trade-deadline makeover by adding outfielder Ben Revere from Philadelphia and reliever Mark Lowe from Seattle on Friday. Later in the evening, new Royals’ ace Johnny Cueto staked Kansas City to a 6-3 lead before Tulowitzki sparked a three-run seventh and helped the Blue Jays win in 11 innings. Revere and Lowe are expected to make their debuts on Saturday, when Toronto will attempt to string together four straight victories for the first time since an 11-game run from June 2-14. The Royals (61-41) still own the best record in the American League despite a three-game slide and hold an eight-game edge on second-place Minnesota in the AL Central, but would like to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season.
TV: 1:07 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Kansas City, SNET (Toronto)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Yordano Ventura (5-7, 4.86 ERA) vs. Blue Jays LH Mark Buehrle (11-5, 3.29)
Ventura cruised to his second victory in three turns in Sunday’s win over Houston, yielding a run on six hits over seven innings en route to his best effort in nearly two months. The 24-year-old flamethrower turned in the performance after going 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA over his previous four outings, which led to a one-day demotion to the minors (he was recalled on July 22 to replace injured starter Jason Vargas). Ventura held the Blue Jays scoreless over five innings in his only career start against them last year, but did not factor into the decision.
Buehrle saw his streak of nine straight starts with at least six innings and two earned runs or fewer ended Sunday in Seattle, giving up three runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings. The 36-year-old Missouri native is 5-1 with a 1.78 ERA in 10 outings since the beginning of June and will make his first start in Toronto in exactly a month. Buehrle held the Royals to two runs in seven frames en route to a road win on July 11, improving to 26-12 with a 3.53 ERA in 55 career games (53 starts) against Kansas City.

WALK-OFFS
1. Toronto also traded LHP Felix Doubront to Oakland for cash considerations before the deadline and placed 2B Devon Travis (left shoulder) on the disabled list to make room for Price on Friday.
2. Kansas City 1B Eric Hosmer is 26-for-52 with three homers and 10 RBIs during his 13-game hitting streak.
3. The Blue Jays failed to hit a home run for the first time in 13 contests on Friday, but finished July with 36 for the month -- one shy of the most in the majors..



PREDICTION: Blue Jays 6, Royals 3