Kansas City, MO (My Sportsbook) - Scott Richmond pitched seven strong innings while Vernon Wells drove in three runs, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals, 8-1, in the continuation of a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

Richmond (3-0) allowed one run on five hits with five strikeouts for the Blue Jays, who evened the series after dropping Monday's opener and have won four of their last six games overall. Aaron Hill finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and Marco Scutaro scored twice in the win.

"This is obviously to date one of my better starts and I hope to build on this for the rest of the season," said Richmond.

David DeJesus drove in the lone run with an RBI double in the fifth inning for the Royals, who have dropped three of their last four contests.

Gil Meche (1-2) suffered the loss after he allowed five runs on seven hits with five walks and two strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings. However, Meche left the game with lower back tightness and is considered day-to-day.

"I've never gone through anything like this where I get stiff," said Meche. "My arm felt great today, but I couldn't use it because I couldn't quite use my hips like I should. I started pulling balls and it just got ugly. I was a little too late when I decided to get myself out of the game."

Lyle Overbay's sacrifice fly in the top of the second gave the visitors the lead before the Blue Jays added four more runs in the top of the fourth.

In that fourth inning, Overbay stroked a one-out double before he scored when Rod Barajas followed with another two-base hit. Scutaro then walked to put runners on the corners before a Hill base hit brought home Barajas. The bases were loaded following an infield single by Alex Rios and Wells followed with a two-run single to center field for a 5-0 Toronto advantage.

The Blue Jays tacked on three more in the top of the eighth off of Horacio Ramirez on RBI singles by Scutaro, Hill and Wells.

Jesse Carlson and Brandon League both tossed a late scoreless inning for Toronto.

Game Notes

The Blue Jays outhit the Royals, 14-6...Hill now has 20 RBI on the young season...Richmond's 2009 earned run average is 2.70...The scheduled pitching matchup for Wednesday is set to feature the unblemished Zack Greinke versus Toronto left-hander Brian Tallet.