Sweet redemption: Vinnie comes through with HR in clutch spot to power win

KANSAS CITY -- After two at-bats from Saturday night he probably wants a redo on, Vinnie Pasquantino got his redemption Sunday -- and fairly quickly, too.

The first baseman’s three-run home run in the first inning Sunday propelled the Royals to a 6-1 win over the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium, taking the finale after back-to-back losses earlier this weekend.

Pasquantino failed to come through with runners in scoring position Saturday night, grounding out in the first inning and hitting into a double play in the eighth with the tying and go-ahead runs on base. But such is the beauty of baseball: The next day, you’re probably getting another chance.

John Rave -- hitting leadoff in place of Carter Jensen, who had a well-deserved day off after catching five consecutive days in the upper-90 degree heat -- beat out an infield single hit back to Blue Jays starter Spencer Arrighetti before Bobby Witt Jr. walked to bring Pasquantino to the plate with two on and nobody out in the first inning.

Pasquantino hammered a fastball from Arrighetti a Statcast-projected 406 feet out to right-center field for his 11th home run of the season.

Salvador Perez widened the Royals’ lead with a two-run blast in the third inning, his 19th of the year, and that was more than enough cushion for Randy Dobnak to work with throughout his six quality innings of one-run ball. That was a bit of redemption, too, after Dobnak was tagged with six runs in six-plus innings in his last start against the Marlins on Tuesday.

Dobnak looked much more like the pitcher the Royals have come to know this second half, with ground balls and efficient innings until he ran into some trouble in the sixth. He allowed a solo homer to Josh Smith to lead off that inning and gave up consecutive singles with two outs before escaping the jam with yet another ground ball against Vladimir Guerrero Jr.