KANSAS CITY -- When Marco Estrada is throwing his pitches with pinpoint precision, good things usually happen to the Blue Jays.
That was the case Wednesday night as Estrada delivered a solid outing in Toronto's 6-5 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. The only real glitch for Estrada was an inability to solve the Salvador Perez riddle. Perez had two homers and drove home three runs, but the Royals' offense did little beyond that.
Curtis Granderson's 10th career grand slam gave Toronto a 6-2 lead in the fourth inning and Estrada (6-9) kept the Royals under control before turning it over to the Blue Jays' bullpen.
"Just locating pitches," Estrada said. "Even the second home run [to Perez], I threw it exactly where I wanted it. He's a good hitter. When things like that happen, you tip your cap."
Toronto manager John Gibbons was impressed by how Estrada steadied himself after Perez homered in his first two trips to the plate.
"Other than [Perez], he held them in check," Gibbons said. "Tough night to pitch, too. Pretty hot and muggy, but he held up pretty good. Marco can always exploit young hitters that have not seen him because it's such a different look. He can really keep you off balance."

The Royals jumped on top thanks to Perez's two-run homer in the first. But the Blue Jays used an RBI single by Kevin Pillar in the second and a five-run rally in the fourth to knock out Jorge Lopez, who was making his Royals debut. Pillar's RBI single tied the game at 2 and Granderson then delivered his grand slam to give Estrada some breathing room. Granderson's drive landed in the right-field bullpen.

"As soon as he hit it, we knew it had a chance," Estrada said. "A grand slam doesn't happen too often. Those are special hits and it couldn't happen to a better guy."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Two-out boost: For the Blue Jays, the most uplifting part of Granderson's grand slam was that it came at a time when it seemed Toronto was about to squander a golden opportunity. After tying the game at 2, the Blue Jays had the bases loaded and nobody out. But Luke Maile struck out and Richard Urena popped to third. Granderson promptly picked up his teammates with his blast to right.
"Anytime you can score four runs with one swing, it's really cool," Granderson said.
SOUND SMART
Although he surrendered a solo homer to Ryan O'Hearn in the ninth, closer Ken Giles is now 15-of-15 overall in save opportunities. He's the only pitcher in the Majors with a minimum of 10 saves who has not blown a save.

HE SAID IT
"A fan asked me 'How many [grand slams] is that? Is it enough for both hands?' I didn't think so, but sure enough, tonight was the 10th one." -- Granderson, on hitting the 10th grand slam of his career
UP NEXT
Right-hander Sam Gaviglio (2-5, 4.86 ERA) will try to help the Blue Jays end their series against the Royals on a positive note in the 8:15 p.m. ET finale on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium. Gaviglio was steady in his last outing against Tampa Bay, working 5 1/3 innings and allowing six hits and two runs (one earned). The Royals will counter with right-hander Glenn Sparkman (0-1, 5.06), who is starting in place of the injured Danny Duffy.