Ben Revere of the Toronto Blue Jays makes a jumping catch in the fourth inning during their Saturday game against the Kansas City Royals.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Even with Troy Tulowitzki getting an afternoon off full-time duty, the Toronto Blue Jays smacked baseballs around Rogers Centre on Saturday with their usual power.
Then the Kansas City Royals showed they could mash, too.
Trade-deadline pickup Mark Lowe allowed three runs in one inning of relief as the Blue Jays' winning streak ended at three with a 7-6 loss to the American League-leading Royals.
Lowe, acquired Friday from the Seattle Mariners for three left-handed minor-league pitchers, had allowed just four earned runs in 36-plus innings. He gave up three on four hits in the eighth inning to get the loss in his Toronto debut.
Starter Mark Buehrle allowed three earned runs and another made possible by his own error as Kansas City's powerful lineup went hit-for-hit and then some with the Blue Jays.
Toronto's Jose Bautista homered twice for Nos. 22 and 23 of the season, and third baseman Josh Donaldson hit a two-run shot off Royals starter Yordano Ventura. Bautista's second home run was the first Royals reliever Wade Davis had given up in more than 125 innings, dating to August 2013.
But for all the Blue Jays' pop, the Royals had plenty to match. Left-fielder Ben Zobrist homered from both sides of the plate, and first baseman Eric Hosmer went 2-for-4, driving in three runs.
Zobrist's home run in the first inning gave Kansas City an early lead, and Ventura set down the first 11 Blue Jays batters he faced. Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Justin Smoak and Dioner Navarro hit four consecutive singles to take the lead in the fourth inning.
Donaldson's 26th home run of the season into the second deck in left field was followed by Bautista's first of the night to give Toronto a 5-1 lead. It was the sixth time this year the Blue Jays hit back-to-back home runs.
Buehrle cracked in the sixth, flubbing a ball hit to him and got unlucky when Zobrist's shot to right field went just beyond the outstretched glove of Bautista. By the end of the inning Kansas City had cut the Blue Jays' lead to one run.
Lowe, making his debut alongside left-fielder Ben Revere, gave up a home run to Zobrist, a double to Lorenzo Cain and an RBI single to Hosmer as the Royals took at 7-5 lead. Bautista's second homer trimmed it and the Blue Jays threatened in the ninth before Greg Holland picked up the save.