TORONTO (AP) - The Kansas City Royals are making a bad habit of getting blanked whenever Jeremy Guthrie is on the mound.
Mark Buehrle pitched eight sharp innings to become the majors’ first 10-game winner, Edwin Encarnacion homered again and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Guthrie and the Royals 4-0 Sunday.
Guthrie (2-5) lost his fifth straight decision, allowing two runs and eight hits in seven innings.
Royals manager Ned Yost praised Guthrie for a solid outing but said the veteran right-hander had the misfortune to be going against Buehrle.
“That is a very, very dangerous lineup over there and (Guthrie) did a great job of maneuvering through it and keeping us right in the game,” Yost said. “He matched up against the wrong guy.”
Guthrie has received just one run of support in his past four outings and is winless in 10 starts. The Royals have been shut out five times this season, three times in Guthrie’s past four outings.
“With all the pitchers, the offense is definitely not living up to the capability it can live up to right now,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said.
For his part, Guthrie isn’t worrying himself over the lack of scoring, and remains focused on keeping his opponents in check.
“I’ve never seen a pitcher lose with zero earned runs,” he said. “That’s my goal every time.”
Buehrle (10-1) won his sixth straight decision, his longest streak since a nine-game run in 2005. He gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three as the Blue Jays finished a 10-game homestand at 8-2.
“Today he was as good as he’s been all year,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He topped off a nice homestand for us.”
Buehrle lowered his ERA to 2.10, second-best in the AL to New York’s Masahiro Tanaka, and improved to 25-12 lifetime against the Royals.
“He was dynamite,” Yost said of Buehrle. “He’s traditionally tough on us but he’s 10-1 now, he’s tough on everybody.”
Encarnacion matched Mickey Mantle’s AL record with 16 home runs in May, then started off a new month with another drive. He hit a two-run shot off Aaron Crow in the eighth for his 19th homer of the season.
Dioner Navarro also homered as the AL East-leading Blue Jays, who went 21-9 in May, began June with their 17th victory in 21 games.
Toronto loaded the bases with two outs against Guthrie in the first but Juan Francisco flied out.
Navarro hit a solo homer in the second with a drive into the right-field bullpen.
Francisco hit a leadoff double in the fourth, Brett Lawrie singled and Anthony Gose had an RBI grounder.
The Royals hit a pair of leadoff doubles against Buehrle, but he never allowed a runner reach third base. Alcides Escobar doubled to begin the third but was caught in a rundown on Nori Aoki’s sharp grounder to second.
Hosmer doubled to open the sixth but was thrown out at third by shortstop Jose Reyes on Billy Butler’s grounder into the hole.
Hosmer called it “a stupid baserunning mistake,” but his manager was more charitable.
“It was an aggressive mistake,” Yost said. “Reyes did a great job of ranging over and the only play he had was at third.”
NOTES: Mantle hit 16 home runs in May 1956. The major league record for the month is 17, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. … The shutout was Toronto’s eighth of the season. … The Royals recalled 3B Mike Moustakas from Triple-A Omaha and activated LHP Francisley Bueno off the 15-day DL. INF Danny Valencia (left hand) was placed on the 15-day DL and RHP Aaron Brooks was optioned to Triple-A. … The Royals begin a four-game series at St. Louis on Monday. Kansas City LHP Danny Duffy (2-5) faces RHP Shelby Miller (6-4).
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