With the trade deadline just two days away, Byrd has been the subject of much speculation as contending teams looks to bolster their rotations.

“Am I pitching myself off the team or on the team? That’s a good question,” Byrd said. “As the deadline nears, with the way I’m pitching you can get a better player.”

Carlos Beltran homered and drove in three runs for the Royals.

Byrd (14-7) allowed five hits to become the first Kansas City pitcher with four consecutive complete games since Tom Gordon in 1990.

“The key was they hit a few balls hard right at somebody,” Byrd said. “The defense made some nice plays. After losing six in a row, it feels good to win.”

Byrd looked like the premier pitcher available as the deadline nears, beating the Blue Jays in a crisp 2 hours, 2 minutes. He threw only 98 pitches, 72 for strikes, and needed just 17 to get through the final two innings.

Byrd is tied for second in the AL in wins and leads the league with five complete games. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 3.49, giving him 31.8 percent of Kansas City’s 44 victories this year.

“I think the story tonight is Byrd,” Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said. “He’s got some deception. He commands both sides of the plate.”

Byrd struck out five and did not walk a batter for the 10th time in 22 starts. He has walked only 25 in 152 1/3 innings, leaving him second in the AL with 1.5 free passes per nine innings.

Beltran hit a 2-2 pitch from Chris Carpenter (4-2) into the right-field stands for a two-run homer with two outs in the eighth. Chuck Knoblauch was aboard.

“I wasn’t trying to hit a home run. I thought it was going to hook foul,” Beltran said. “It definitely helped, but I knew (Byrd) was going to win the game.”

Beltran also had a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

The first two Kansas City runs off Carpenter were unearned, but he lost for the first time since April 22. Carpenter has made eight starts since coming off the disabled list June 22.

With two outs in the third, Brent Mayne doubled and scored on shortstop Chris Woodward’s throwing error on Knoblauch’s grounder.

Luis Alicea led off the fourth with a single, advanced to second on Carpenter’s wild pitch, took third on a passed ball and scored on Beltran’s fly to center.

Byrd, who retired 15 of his first 16 batters, lost his shutout bid in the seventh when Vernon Wells doubled off the left-field wall and scored on Woodward’s two-out single.

Royals center fielder Michael Tucker robbed Orlando Hudson of an extra-base hit, sprinting to the warning track to chase down a long fly in the third.

Notes:Kansas City’s Raul Ibanez has 30 RBIs in July and needs three to break the team record for any month. … The Royals scored only eight runs and hit .188 on six-game road trip that ended Sunday. … Toronto’s Shannon Stewart batted leadoff for the 69th time. No other Blue Jays player has hit first more than 11 times.