TORONTO — Jaime Garcia admitted he didn’t have his best stuff.
Pitching on eight days rest, Garcia allowed three earned runs and eight hits over five innings while fanning five as Toronto thumped the Kansas City Royals 11-3 in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday at Rogers Centre. Garcia received the extended break after the Blue Jays had three straight games postponed due to inclement weather.
"I really wasn’t sharp at all but at the same time it doesn’t take away from my competitiveness and trying to get people out and giving us a chance to win," said Garcia, who improved to 2-0 on the season. "I was able to do that today."
Randal Grichuk belted a three-run homer off Blaine Boyer to anchor a six-run sixth inning. Four batters later, Yangervis Solarte drove in Devon Travis with a sacrifice fly before Kevin Pillar hit a two-run single to put Toronto comfortably ahead 11-3.
Toronto (10-5), playing just its second game in five days, has won two straight five of its last six games. Kansas City (3-11) has dropped six consecutive contests.
Grichuk, who had gone three games without a hit, finished 2-for-4, with three runs-batted in.
"It’s an understatement to say he needed that," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He’s been pressing big time, grinding.
"That’s huge. We got him for a reason, we’ve seen a lot of good things in him. You can see his talent."
Toronto took a 2-0 lead on Solarte’s two-run homer off Royals starter Eric Skoglund in the first. Paulo Orlando brought Kansas City’s first run home when his groundout into a double play scored Lucas Duda in the second.
But the Royals went ahead 3-2 in the third following consecutive solo homers from Mike Moustakas and Duda. Toronto countered with three in the fifth on RBI singles from Steve Pearce, Justin Smoak and Solarte, who finished 2-for-3 with four runs-batted in.
Skoglund (1-1) took the loss. He went five innings and allowed five earned runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking one.
Seunghwan Oh, Aaron Loup and John Axford combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief for Toronto.
NOTES: Toronto recalled right-hander Joe Biagini from Triple-A Buffalo to start the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. … Tuesday was just the third doubleheader in Rogers Centre history. The Blue Jays also played two July 17, 1989 and Oct. 5, 2001.
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