(TORONTO, AP) — No matter what he tries, nothing seems to be working for struggling Royals starter Chris Young.
Josh Donaldson hit two solo home runs, Troy Tulowitzki had a three-run blast and the Toronto Blue Jays connected four times off Young to beat Kansas City 8-3 on Tuesday night.
Young (2-8) matched Runelvys Hernandez’s team record by allowing at least one home run in 13 consecutive starts. Hernandez did it from October 2005 to August 2006.
Young allowed six runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. Winless in nine starts, Young described his season as “beyond frustrating.”
“My body feels good, it’s just the results haven’t been there,” he said. “It’s a frustrating feeling. I feel like I’ve let the team down and it’s horrible.”
Young (2-8) has surrendered a major league-worst 26 home runs this season.
Manager Ned Yost said Young tried moving to the third-base side of the mound to give him “more deception.”
“At the beginning of the game, it looked like he was real sharp,” Yost said. “He just ran into severe trouble in the third.”
Donaldson connected in the first inning and went back-to-back with Ezequiel Carrera in the third. It marked the eighth multihomer game of Donaldson’s career and the fifth time this season the Blue Jays have hit consecutive homers.
Three batters later, Tulowitzki chased Young with his seventh homer in 15 games since returning from the disabled list.
“Mentally it’s tough,” Young said. “I’ve never struggled like this.”
It was the 34th time in team history that the Blue Jays have hit three home runs in an inning. They last did it May 7, 2014, against Philadelphia.
Toronto’s R.A. Dickey (6-9) allowed two runs, none earned, and four hits in seven innings to win for the first time in nine home starts this season. The knuckleballer came in 0-6 with a 5.14 ERA at home.
Yost said Dickey’s knuckleball “was as good as we’ve ever seen it.”
Kansas City’s Cheslor Cuthbert hit a two run homer off Dickey and finished with three RBIs.
Named an AL All-Star reserve earlier in the evening, Donaldson has scored 77 runs, a franchise record for runs before the All-Star break. Carlos Delgado had 76 in 2003.
Fellow All-Star Edwin Encarnacion had two hits and an RBI, raising his ML-leading total to 77.
Kansas City lost for the fourth time in five games and dropped to 16-29 on the road.
STARRING ROLES
Royals 1B Eric Hosmer and C Salvador Perez will start the All-Star Game for the AL. RHPs Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera were selected to the pitching staff but Davis (forearm) will miss the game because of injury. RHP Marco Estrada will also represent Toronto, while Blue Jays OF Michael Saunders is one of five candidates for the Final Vote competition.
DAMAGE CONTROL
Twenty of the 26 home runs hit off Young have been solo shots.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Davis was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 1. The Royals selected RHP Brooks Pounders from Triple-A Omaha and designated LHP Tyler Olson for assignment.
UP NEXT
Royals: RHP Ian Kennedy (6-7, 4.04) starts Wednesday’s series finale. Kennedy has allowed 20 home runs, including one in each of his past six starts.
Blue Jays: RHP Marcus Stroman (6-4, 5.08) allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings against Cleveland in his most recent start after allowing 38 earned runs in his previous eight outings.