While the Kansas City Royals overcame the weather Toronto

KANSAS CITY Jim Palmer Jersey , Mo. (AP) — Gaviglio was unable to overcome a fourth-inning balk.Lucas Duda homered, Rosell Herrera had three hits and the Royals beat the Blue Jays 6-2 after a long rain delay Thursday night to split their four-game series.Royals relievers Brian Flynn, Kevin McCarthy, Brandon Maurer and Wily Peralta shut down Toronto on three hits over the final five innings. Flynn (3-3) picked up the win with a scoreless inning.“Difficult circumstances, really,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “Long wait, waiting out the rain. We weren’t sure we were going to play. It just kept building up, building up and then it started dying down. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.“The bullpen did a good job of holding the fort and a good job by our hitters with four two-out hits to give us the lead.”Kansas City took the lead with a three-run fourth highlighted by Jorge Bonifacio’s RBI triple.Gaviglio (2-6) failed to make it through five innings for the eighth time in his past 13 starts. He allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.The right-hander came unraveled after a balk call and a delay of more than five minutes in the fourth. He attempted a pickoff throw, but the ball slipped out of his hand. After the umpires huddled, Herrera was awarded second base. There was also a replay review to confirm the balk, which took 4 minutes, 1 second.Following the long delay, Gaviglio yielded three straight run-producing hits.“I thought it was a balk, from my point of view Mark Trumbo Jersey ,” Gaviglio said.He said the delay did not cause him problems.“I just kind of got a little up in the zone, didn’t make very good pitches,” Gaviglio said.Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Gaviglio is unable to get away with elevated pitches.“He’s been getting hit around a little bit lately, primarily because he gets a lot of pitches up in the zone,” Gibbons said. “That’s not his style. He can’t do that. “Danny Jansen’s sacrifice fly in the second scored Teoscar Hernandez with the first Toronto run.Kendrys Morales singled home Justin Smoak in the fourth with the final Blue Jays run.Glenn Sparkman, who was making his first big league start, was removed after four innings and 75 pitches. He gave up two runs and four hits.Rain delayed the start for 2 hours, 14 minutes — the third straight day that bad weather held up the first pitch.“It was a little different,” Sparkman said. “I definitely wasn’t ready for it. I got a cup of coffee, got warmed back up and went out there.”MATIAS’ SEASON OVEROF Seuly Matias, who leads the minor leagues with 31 homers for short-season Class A Burlington, went on the disabled list with a cut thumb. “It was an accident with the bus baggage door, just a freak accident, putting his bag in the bus on the way to Hagerstown,” Royals director of operations Alec Zumwalt said. “He sliced his thumb. It’s to the point where we’re just going to stop him for the season and get him ready for the instructional league. He’s not a guy we’re going to rush back Chris Tillman Jersey , and make sure he’s at 100 percent.” Matias went 2 for 3 with a home run in the All-Star Futures Game last month in Washington.NOT CLUTCHRoyals 3B Hunter Dozier is 4 for 46 (.087) with runners in scoring position. He has come to bat with 65 men in scoring position and has six RBIs with only one extra-base hit. “It’s not really conducive to scoring runs, but that’s not going to stop me from playing him and letting him work through that,” Yost said.ROSTER MOVEThe Royals sent minor league LHP Kelvin Gonzalez to the Texas Rangers for a $250,000 international bonus allocation. Gonzalez, 20, was 0-2 with a 4.19 ERA and one save with Burlington.TRAINER’S ROOMBlue Jays: 3B Josh Donaldson (left calf tightness) is running the bases at the Dunedin, Florida, complex with no issues. … INF-OF Brandon Drury (broken left hand) will receive follow-up imaging Friday in New York to assess his healing.Royals: RHP Ian Kennedy (strained left oblique) threw a 25-pitch simulated game. He is scheduled to throw a two-inning simulated game Monday at the Royals’ complex in Surprise, Arizona. … LHP Danny Duffy (shoulder impingement) will begin throwing off a flat surface Friday for the first time since going on the disabled list Sunday. … OF Brian Goodwin (left groin strain) went 0 for 3 with two walks in his first rehab game with Triple-A Omaha.UP NEXTBlue Jays: RHP Marcus Stroman (4-8, 5.03 ERA) starts Friday in the series opener at Yankee Stadium.Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (6-11, 4.82) is scheduled to pitch Friday against the White Sox in Chicago to open a seven-game trip. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Ryan Howard gets a good laugh when he sees some of the baseball cards fans send him to autograph.That’s because they don’t picture Ryan Avery Howard, the 24-year-old minor league shortstop in the San Francisco Giants organization. Instead, they feature Ryan James Howard, the burly MVP slugger who played 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and retired after 2016.The two don’t look anything alike. For starters http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey , one is white and the other is black.“I just laugh about it with the guys and make a joke,” the Giants infielder said Sunday.Besides having the same name, both Howards are from the St. Louis area and were drafted in the fifth round.The Giants’ Howard, born in St. Peters, Missouri, was selected in 2016 out of the University of Missouri. He batted .273 in 117 games last season at Double-A Richmond.The Phillies’ Howard was drafted in 2001 out of Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri. He hit 382 career home runs and had 1,194 RBIs in 1,572 games, winning the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year award and 2006 NL MVP.“It’s a crazy story,” said San Francisco’s Ryan Howard. “We are kind of connected. He might not know who I am, but I know who he is. My goal is to get to where he got to.”The Giants’ Howard began receiving his Phillies counterpart’s cards last season.“It’s always a good laugh,” he said.“I’ve never met him in person but I’ve heard nothing but good things about him and he’s a great guy from what I’ve heard. I’d like to meet him at some point. Hopefully down the road I’ll be able to do that.”