KANSAS CITY -- On the day that Brady Singer registered his 500th career strikeout in his 100th career game, it was the walks he allowed that hurt him the most.

Three free passes, including two leadoff walks, led to five runs allowed by Singer in the Royals’ 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium. It was the Royals’ third loss in a row and fourth of their last five games.

Singer allowed more runs Monday night than his previous four starts combined (four) to begin the season, and all five runs came on just two swings -- Bo Bichette’s three-run triple in the third and Daulton Varsho’s two-run home run in the sixth.

“The early walks, letting them get on base early in the inning, and obviously the two pitches to Bichette and Varsho,” Singer said. “... I thought I made some good pitches when I needed to. But obviously, five runs is not what I want to do.”

Singer recorded his 500th career strikeout with a slider that caught Davis Schneider looking in the second inning, becoming just the 19th Royals pitcher to reach the milestone. Singer matched Royals Hall of Famer Steve Busby for the fewest career appearances to 500 strikeouts (100).

But he labored in the third, issuing a leadoff walk to Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a double to Cavan Biggio. Singer got a weak ground ball for the first out of the inning but then walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to load the bases.

Singer got in a 2-2 count against Bichette before throwing a slider down and away on the corner of the strike zone, and Bichette barreled toward the right-center gap. The wind seemed to push the ball towards the gap because center fielder Garrett Hampson took one step in before tailing back toward the wall, unable to reel it in after a dive.

“I was trying to get them to chase but not trying to throw it way out of the zone,” Singer said. “With Bichette, he wasn’t really chasing anything. I threw a good slider. That’s where I wanted it. I’d probably throw it again. I thought that was the right pitch to throw, and the right place, too. He put a great swing on it.

“Off the bat, I didn’t think it was going to go that far. Whatever happened, it just kept going.”

While Singer labored, Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi was mowing the Royals’ lineup down at an incredibly efficient pace -- he held the Royals scoreless through five innings on 48 pitches.

They averaged a 93.6 mph exit velocity against Kikuchi, and through the first four innings, the Royals had the four hardest hit balls of the game, all resulting in outs.

“It’s a better sign than the alternative,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “... We just need to be able to sustain some things and be able to score in other ways as well.”

The Royals finally got to Kikuchi in the sixth, when he threw 33 pitches and allowed two runs on Maikel Garcia’s fourth homer of the season. It was a 409-foot moonshot, and Garcia, who had just three hits in his previous 33 at-bats before the homer, needed it.

“You hit a homer, and the confidence comes back,” said Garcia, whose fourth homer this year matched his total from 2023. “You just keep playing hard every day and try to do my best to help the team score runs.”

The Royals just needed more.

In the end, the Blue Jays’ pitching outdueled the Royals’. Kikuchi ended his night with 81 pitches and a 59% zone percentage. Singer ended his at a season-high 107 pitches and 45% zone percentage.

The Royals entered this homestand with one of the most successful rotations in baseball this year and got another good start from Alec Marsh on Friday night; their 2.28 ERA at that point ranked second in the Majors.

In the three games since, Royals starters have allowed at least four runs each.

There was bound to be a regression, and they won’t be panicking about three bad starts. Now, though, it’s time for the offense to pick up the pitching, and this week is a test against good Blue Jays starters.

“You hear me say it all the time, the more decisions you make hitters make, especially if you have really good stuff like [Kikuchi] does, it’s tough,” Quatraro said. “You’ve got to swing the bat or you’re going to be behind. Tonight when we swung the bat, we put it in play, it was just either right at them or fly ball. We couldn’t string anything together.”