Bruce Chen Ties Career High In Strikeouts While Jeff Francoeur Collects Four Hits In 6-4 Royals Victory Over Toronto

On Tuesday evening the Royals strung together 16 hits on their way to 6-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Bruce Chen was solid overall on the mound as he moved to 9-5 with the win. Meanwhile five Kansas City batters collected multiple hits with Eric Hosmer collecting three and Jeff Francoeur collecting four as the Royals got off to a good start on the newest road trip.

The offense got things going in the second inning against Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow as Eric Hosmer hit his 11th home run of the season to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead. The Royals would score twice more in the inning thanks to RBI singles by fellow rookies Johnny Giavotella and Salvador Perez.

With Chen cruising, the Royals would post another three run inning in the top of the fifth, highlighted by Billy Butler's solo home run off Morrow, his 16th of the year. Giavotella and Perez would each pick up RBI's again via a double by Gio and a triple by Perez. Giavotella is now batting .281 and Perez raised his average to .220 with a 2-for-5 evening.

Chen finally ran into trouble in the sixth inning when he allowed a three-run home run to Toronto shortstop Yunel Escobar. Chen would finish the evening with 7.2 innings pitched and gave up three runs on just four hits. His nine strikeouts tied a career-high.

Joakim Soria pitched the ninth to earn his 23rd save, however like much of the season it didn't come without frustration. Toronto would score one run in the ninth when Adam Lind singled to score Eric Thames.

Kansas City is now 53-76 and picked up just their 20th road victory of 2011. The Royals are currently three games back of Minnesota, with the Twins looking like they will lose this evening as well.