Scott Rolen provided the power and Alex Rios the legs, and together they helped the Blue Jays snap a six-game losing streak.
Rolen homered and drove in two runs, Alex Rios collected four hits and scored three times and the visiting Blue Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-2 yesterday.
Rios, who raised his average to .330, scored the go-ahead run in the fifth from first base on Rolen’s single to left. Rios was waved home when Royals left-fielder Jose Guillen threw to second base instead of hitting the cutoff man.
“That’s a big play in the game,” Rolen said. “That’s an easy one to shut down and for him to keep hustling, that’s how you win ball games. We’ve found a lot of ways to lose ball games.
“We had a chance to win the series here and let a couple of games get away,” Rolen added. “That’s the stuff we need to probably buckle down on a little bit and have a mindset to win the series. We’ll turn the page, go to Boston and hopefully win that series.”
Rios, who led off the game with a triple and scored on Gil Meche’s wild pitch, was glad to see third base coach Marty Pevey wave him home on Rolen’s single.
“When I saw it was going to be a hit, I just kept going at full speed. That’s the only way I was going to score,” Rios said. “When he saw I had a chance to score, he just told me to keep going.”
