shooting by the time he checked out after 10 minutes to open

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alcides Escobar is a maestro with his glove, making the kinds difficult of plays at shortstop that has helped to make the Kansas City Royals one of the best defensive teams in baseball. On Wednesday night, Escobar showed he can swing the bat a bit, too. His two-run double in the seventh inning proved to be the difference in a tense 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. "Hes been very consistent," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Hes always been an important part of our club because of his defence. He saves runs in the field. But when you add offence to that, he becomes a very special player." Eric Hosmer drove in the other two runs for the Royals, whose bullpen blew a 2-0 lead for young starter Yordano Ventura before holding on to beat Toronto with a late rally for the second straight night. Kansas City won the series opener 10-7 behind a six-run eighth inning. Kelvin Herrera (1-1) stranded runners on second and third in the seventh, and Wade Davis struck out Jose Reyes to leave the bases loaded in the eighth. Greg Holland worked around a double in the ninth for his seventh save in seven tries. "You play 162 games. Youre going to see a lot of things happen," Holland said. "The mark of a good bullpen is when you have guys pick each other up when they get in jams." Drew Hutchison (1-2) allowed all four runs on five hits in seven innings for Toronto. The 23-year-old right-hander, who missed last season after Tommy John surgery, kept the Royals mostly off balance until Escobar guided his double down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh. Jimmy Paredes and Salvy Perez scored easily to give Kansas City the lead. "I got ahead of him. I went right at him. I thought I made a good pitch," Hutchison said. "Thats a situation where I expect myself to thrive and get the job done, but I didnt." The Royals improved to 14-0 when scoring at least four runs -- they remain 0-12 falling short of that mark. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays lost for the sixth time in their last seven games. Toronto also lost outfielder Melky Cabrera in the sixth inning when he was hit in the left shin by a pitch from Danny Duffy. Cabrera needed to be helped off the field, though X-rays taken at the ballpark came back negative and a team spokesman said he was day to day. The Royals manufactured a 1-0 lead through driving rain in the first inning with a double by Nori Aoki, a sacrifice bunt and Hosmers sacrifice fly. They tacked on another run in the fourth when Hosmer followed a double by Omar Infante with one of his own. As long as Ventura was pitching, it seemed that would be enough. The Blue Jays struggled to catch up to the 22-year-olds triple-digit fastball, managing just two hits over five innings. But they were more successful at avoiding stuff off the plate, driving up his pitch count and forcing him from the game after five innings and 92 pitches. "It was cold out there," Ventura said through a translator, fellow starter Jeremy Guthrie. "Naturally, it was a little more difficult to command." Thats when Royals manager Ned Yost called on Duffy, who hit Cabrera in the left shin with his first pitch. Cabrera dropped to the grass in foul territory and stayed there several minutes, eventually getting helped through the dugout and to the clubhouse by the Blue Jays trainers. Duffy proceeded to walk Jose Bautista on five pitches and was yanked for Aaron Crow, who gave up singles to Edwin Encarnacion and Juan Francisco that tied the game 2-all. Crow finally escaped the inning, and the Royals bullpen held Toronto down the rest of the way. "Its frustrating, but at the end of the day I need to do a better job to give us a chance to win after we came back and scored two runs," Hutchison said. "I was in complete control going into the seventh. It comes down to that its on me and I need to get the job done." NOTES: Toronto left 11 runners on base. ... Bautista finished with 30 walks in April, matching Fred McGriffs club record for a single month. ... Blue Jays INF Brett Lawrie (sore back) was held out of the lineup. Manager John Gibbons called him day to day. ... RHP Jeremy Guthrie starts the series finale Thursday night for Kansas City. LHP Mark Buehrle starts for Toronto. Wholesale China Jerseys . -- Hal Steinbrenner says Alex Rodriguez is "a great player" and "obviously an asset," but the New York Yankees managing general partner wouldnt discuss the third basemans possible return to the team following a season-long suspension. China Jerseys Review . LOUIS -- When Braves second baseman Tyler Pastornicky backpedaled into shallow right field to catch the popup and Jason Heyward didnt arrive fast enough to take charge, Kolten Wong got the green light. https://www.chinajerseysreview.com/ . The 22-year-old Kreider was injured Friday night in New Yorks win at Columbus, but played in the next two games -- including Monday nights win over Phoenix. But the left winger, who has 17 goals and 37 points this season, was limited to about 10 minutes of ice time in each of the previous games. China Jerseys Online .com) - Rajon Rondo turned in a game-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists as Dallas claimed a 102-98 win over the Lakers on Friday. Cheap China Jerseys . - Nikita Jevpalovs scored 6:22 into the second overtime as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada edged the visiting Rimouski Oceanic 2-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. NEW YORK -- They have gone from disappointment to dominant, a team that was booed on its home floor and now rarely loses there. And pretty soon, the Brooklyn Nets will also be a playoff team. Pierce scored 22 points after another sensational start, and the Nets moved to the brink of a post-season spot by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-99 on Sunday for their franchise record-tying 13th straight home victory. "First part of the season was rough on us with injuries and everything that we went through, and it feels good," guard Deron Williams said. "It feels good to be able to turn it around." Pierce scored 16 in the first quarter, two nights after putting up 17 in the period, and didnt miss a shot in either. He couldnt keep it going after asking for a rest so he would stay fresh to defend Kevin Love, but the Nets had to plenty more to pull away. Joe Johnson added 19 points for the Nets, who were 10-21 when they reached the new year, but will clinch a playoff spot with either another win or a loss by the New York Knicks. A post-season berth was viewed as a sure thing when the Nets acquired Pierce and Kevin Garnett while assembling a team that would cost more than $180 million, but they struggled early and then lost leading scorer Brook Lopez to a season-ending foot injury. "I think a lot of teams with bad character, bad leadership in the locker room wouldve laid down a long time ago. Probably by Christmas wouldve been making summer plans," Pierce said. "But not this group." Andray Blatche had 14 points and three players finished with 13 for the Nets. Brooklyn equaled the longest home winning streak in the NBA this season and the best in the history of the franchise, done twice in 2002 when the Nets were still based in New Jersey. They have won 20 of their last 22 games at Barclays Center. Corey Brewer and Kevin Martin each scored 21 for the Timberwolves, who had won two in row and were coming off the highest-scoring game in the NBA this season, when they scored a franchise-record 143 points in a rout of tthe Lakers on Friday.ddddddddddddBut they had only 17 in the fourth quarter of this one as Brooklyn surged to the finish. Love finished with just 14 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves, shooting 5-of-14 and saying afterward he felt "exhausted" and was perhaps getting sick. "I couldnt find any energy in the second half and that was really it," Love said. The Nets led by one early in the fourth quarter, but got three 3-pointers from Alan Anderson in a 13-4 spurt that gave them a 98-88 lead with 6:51 remaining, and Pierce later added a 3 to make it a 13-point cushion. Brooklyn finished off a 12-4 March, matching the team record for victories in the month set in 2006 and hopes to have Kevin Garnett and Andrei Kirilenko back from injuries by the end of the upcoming week. Pierce, who scored 17 points in the first quarter Friday, had 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting by the time he checked out after 10 minutes to open this one. He is 10 for 10 from the field, 8 or 8 on 3-pointers, in 17 minutes over the last two first quarters, and this is the first time in his career that hes scored at least 16 in consecutive first quarters. The Nets led 30-27 after one and opened a 49-36 lead on Mirza Teletovics 3-pointer with 6:11 remaining in the second quarter. Minnesota whittled that down to 59-54 by the break. The Wolves charged out of the locker room with a 15-4 run to open a 69-63 lead a little under 4 minutes into the third quarter. But the Nets, who had rarely trailed in the second half during their streak, quickly regrouped behind Johnson and Shaun Livingston to move back in front and take an 85-82 lead to the fourth. NOTES: The Nets said before the game that Garnett, who has missed 16 straight games with back spasms, is hoping to play next weekend or during their trip to Florida on April 8 and 9. Kirilenko is targeting a mid-week return from a sprained left ankle. ... Johnson became the 15th active player with 17,000 career points. Pierce and Garnett have already done it. ... Oklahoma City also had 13 straight home wins from Nov. 3-Dec. 19. ' ' '