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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alcides Escobar is a maestro with his glove, making the kinds difficult of plays at shortstop that has helped to make the Kansas City Royals one of the best defensive teams in baseball. On Wednesday night, Escobar showed he can swing the bat a bit, too. His two-run double in the seventh inning proved to be the difference in a tense 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. "Hes been very consistent," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Hes always been an important part of our club because of his defence. He saves runs in the field. But when you add offence to that, he becomes a very special player." Eric Hosmer drove in the other two runs for the Royals, whose bullpen blew a 2-0 lead for young starter Yordano Ventura before holding on to beat Toronto with a late rally for the second straight night. Kansas City won the series opener 10-7 behind a six-run eighth inning. Kelvin Herrera (1-1) stranded runners on second and third in the seventh, and Wade Davis struck out Jose Reyes to leave the bases loaded in the eighth. Greg Holland worked around a double in the ninth for his seventh save in seven tries. "You play 162 games. Youre going to see a lot of things happen," Holland said. "The mark of a good bullpen is when you have guys pick each other up when they get in jams." Drew Hutchison (1-2) allowed all four runs on five hits in seven innings for Toronto. The 23-year-old right-hander, who missed last season after Tommy John surgery, kept the Royals mostly off balance until Escobar guided his double down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh. Jimmy Paredes and Salvy Perez scored easily to give Kansas City the lead. "I got ahead of him. I went right at him. I thought I made a good pitch," Hutchison said. "Thats a situation where I expect myself to thrive and get the job done, but I didnt." The Royals improved to 14-0 when scoring at least four runs -- they remain 0-12 falling short of that mark. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays lost for the sixth time in their last seven games. Toronto also lost outfielder Melky Cabrera in the sixth inning when he was hit in the left shin by a pitch from Danny Duffy. Cabrera needed to be helped off the field, though X-rays taken at the ballpark came back negative and a team spokesman said he was day to day. The Royals manufactured a 1-0 lead through driving rain in the first inning with a double by Nori Aoki, a sacrifice bunt and Hosmers sacrifice fly. They tacked on another run in the fourth when Hosmer followed a double by Omar Infante with one of his own. As long as Ventura was pitching, it seemed that would be enough. The Blue Jays struggled to catch up to the 22-year-olds triple-digit fastball, managing just two hits over five innings. But they were more successful at avoiding stuff off the plate, driving up his pitch count and forcing him from the game after five innings and 92 pitches. "It was cold out there," Ventura said through a translator, fellow starter Jeremy Guthrie. "Naturally, it was a little more difficult to command." Thats when Royals manager Ned Yost called on Duffy, who hit Cabrera in the left shin with his first pitch. Cabrera dropped to the grass in foul territory and stayed there several minutes, eventually getting helped through the dugout and to the clubhouse by the Blue Jays trainers. Duffy proceeded to walk Jose Bautista on five pitches and was yanked for Aaron Crow, who gave up singles to Edwin Encarnacion and Juan Francisco that tied the game 2-all. Crow finally escaped the inning, and the Royals bullpen held Toronto down the rest of the way. "Its frustrating, but at the end of the day I need to do a better job to give us a chance to win after we came back and scored two runs," Hutchison said. "I was in complete control going into the seventh. It comes down to that its on me and I need to get the job done." NOTES: Toronto left 11 runners on base. ... Bautista finished with 30 walks in April, matching Fred McGriffs club record for a single month. ... Blue Jays INF Brett Lawrie (sore back) was held out of the lineup. Manager John Gibbons called him day to day. ... RHP Jeremy Guthrie starts the series finale Thursday night for Kansas City. LHP Mark Buehrle starts for Toronto. Anthony Tolliver Jersey . Of all the names out there who could realistically be dealt by Wednesdays deadline, Ryan Kesler remains No. 1 on the most desired list. And while were not sure if theyre any closer to a deal, we now have a defined price. Anthony Brown Jersey . Off-Season Game Plan looks at the Capitals possible summer plans, with the understanding that its tough to plot a direction without a general manager or head coach around which to set those expectations. http://www.timberwolvesgear.com/authenti...s-jersey/.James scored 29 points, including 16 in the first quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers broke a four-game losing streak with a 106-74 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday night. Luol Deng Jersey .com) - A chant of Zeke reverberated around AT&T Stadium before Ezekiel Elliott powered into the end zone for his fourth and final touchdown. Custom Minnesota Timberwolves Jerseys ." Also, defencemen "were found to be at a higher risk of suffering a concussion than other players, perhaps due to turning their back to retrieve pucks along the boards, which leaves them vulnerable.RENTON, Wash. - During one of the most successful coaching careers in football, Pete Carroll rarely has committed errors. He did at Southern California with Clay Matthews, and Carroll still shakes his head about it.A defensive mastermind throughout his years in pro and college football, Carroll always has had an eye for talented linebackers. Somehow, he didnt immediately see the skill in Matthews, a third-generation player who wasnt much more than a special teams guy early on with the Trojans.On Sunday, Carrolls Seahawks (13-4) will face Matthews Packers (13-4) in the NFC championship game. Carroll loves what he sees out of Matthews, a five-time Pro Bowler — even though the coach didnt recognize that playmaking ability back at USC.Thats a really interesting story, Carroll began. Clay comes from a great family, an SC family: dad, uncle and all of that had been All-Americans and All-Pros. ... His older brother was a walk-on player before him.When Clay came in he was 208 pounds and he didnt run really well. He wasnt really strong, but he loved playing and he tried really hard.Carroll paused, looking as if he wanted to smack himself upside the head before he continued with the SC saga.Unfortunately, this is one of the great mistakes that I missed in my coaching at SC was how good of a player he was, Carroll added. I had said going in I think maybe his junior year, somebody asked me about Clay Matthews, and I said, I think he might be one of the best special teamers to ever play at USC. He was a great player on (special) teams.I knew I couldnt really validate that, but I was blowing him up because he was a great kid.Fast-forward to Matthews final season with the Trojans. He was not a starter when top-ranked Southern Cal was losing at Oregon State. Searching for some answers, Carroll turned to Matthews.The Trojans still lost, but Carroll realized hed missed the mark earlier with Matthews.We put him in the game, and we said, We know Clay will do the right thing, Carroll said. He started playing there, and hes bbeen a great player since the time he was given the opportunity to show it.dddddddddddd He was always there banging away, always there fighting, clawing and scratching.Maybe because of the way he came up, it took him a long time to develop, and (we) didnt recognize the great heart that he had, and unbelievable competitiveness and the great savvy that he demonstrates now. Its really one of my big misses. I should have figured that out a lot sooner than I did. He made the rest of it history and been an extraordinary player ever since.Matthews consistently has performed in the NFL better than many of Carrolls other USC linebackers: Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Keith Rivers, et al. This season, Packers co-ordinator Dom Capers has moved Matthews from outside to inside and back, and Green Bays defence stepped up in the second half of the schedule.The Southern Cal days are far behind for Matthews, who went 26th overall to Green Bay in the 2009 draft and was runner-up to Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu for NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010. He seemed to pay little attention to the fact Carroll will be on the other sideline Sunday, other than praising Carrolls achievements.Uh, you know he had a successful program at SC in my tenure there and years prior, and after me leaving, Matthews said. So its always interesting how coaches will deal with the next level, and hes obviously doing a fantastic job. Hes got the right athletes in place to help his scheme out, and hes doing a great job. Youve got to tip your hat to him.Carroll admitted he observes the work of Matthews and every other Trojan in the NFL, even though he only occasionally reaches out to Matthews.Not too much, he said of communicating with his former player. But because its the SC family, everybody is always kind of keeping track of everybody else. We always have an eye on each other, I think.___AP Sports Writers Tim Booth and Genaro C. 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