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Blue Jays pound Royals 11-4, take 3 of 4 in series

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TORONTO — Freddy Galvis hit a pair of solo home runs, rookie Cavan Biggio had four RBIs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 11-4 on Monday.

Randal Grichuk had four hits and four RBIs and Teoscar Hernandez added a solo home run as the Blue Jays won for the 15th time in 19 regular-season home meetings with the Royals.

Wearing red caps and jerseys in honor of Canada Day, the Blue Jays scored in each of the first four innings and finished with a season-high 18 hits.

Biggio, who went 3 for 5, hit his first career grand slam in Saturday's 7-5 victory, the first time he had driven in four runs in a game.

Clayton Richard (1-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings to win for the first time since Aug. 18, 2018, when he beat Arizona while pitching for San Diego.

Royals right-hander Glenn Sparkman (2-4) allowed season highs of nine hits and eight runs in three innings.

Ahead 2-0 after one, the Blue Jays scored five in the second, doing so for the second straight game. On Sunday, Toronto immediately surrendered five runs in the third and lost 7-6 to Kansas City -- the Royals' only win in the four-game series.

Hernandez homered on the first pitch of the second, his eighth, and Galvis followed with a blast to center. It was the seventh time this season the Blue Jays have gone back-to-back.

Biggio added a two-run double and Grichuk capped the inning with an RBI single.

Galvis went deep again in the third, the third multihomer game of his career. He now has 14 home runs this season. Galvis doubled in the fifth and flied out in the seventh.

Jorge Soler, Cheslor Cuthbert and Humberto Arteaga hit consecutive RBI singles off Richard in the fourth, and Royals All-Star Whit Merrifield had an RBI single off David Phelps in the seventh.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Royals: INF Adalberto Mondesi (strained right groin) started at shortstop and went 1 for 4 with a double in his second rehab game with Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Sunday night. Mondesi has been out since June 18.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (4-7, 5.23 ERA) starts for Kansas City in the opener of a three-game home series against Cleveland, which beat Junis in his previous start. RHP Trevor Bauer (6-6, 3.55) starts for the Indians.

Blue Jays: RHP Trent Thornton (2-5, 4.60) starts the opener of a three-game series against Boston. Thornton allowed five runs against the Yankees in his previous start, matching a season worst. LHP David Price (5-2, 3.36) starts for the Red Sox.