Kansas City, Mo. ? Ted Lilly pitched through pain in his shoulder to retire the first 11 Kansas City batters.

Then with two outs in the fourth, Emil Brown doubled off the Toronto left-hander. By the time Lilly finally recorded the third out, four straight batters had combined to hit for the cycle and the game was tied at 4, getting the Royals on their way to a 6-5 victory Sunday over the Blue Jays in sweltering 96-degree heat.

“It got to the point where I wasn’t able to let my fastball go without any discomfort,” said Lilly, who had gone 3-1 with a 2.85 earned-run average in his previous four starts. “I just wasn’t able to let the ball go freely without any pain.”

Lilly noticed the pain while warming up in the bullpen but told no one. Chad Gaudin (1-3) pitched the fifth and gave up two more runs.

“I guess I just didn’t want to kind of make the problem sound worse than it was,” said Lilly, who will be examined by doctors in Toronto. “I wasn’t really sure, to be honest, how bad it was. I was kind of hoping it would get better.”

After Brown doubled, Matt Stairs singled him home, and Angel Berroa hit a two-run homer. Mark Teahen tripled and scored to make it 4-all when rookie Chip Ambres singled for his first major-league RBI.

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“As a matter of fact, when I was watching him when we were putting the rally together, it looked like some of his pitches were getting babied up there a little bit,” Brown said.

“It looked like maybe he was trying to protect his shoulder, I guess. I saw a couple of pitches, a curveball and a changeup, and I thought, ‘Man, that looks really slow, unless he’s really trying to trick us now.”‘

D.J. Carrasco (5-4) recovered from a shaky start to get the win, going six innings and giving up four runs and six hits, with three walks and three strikeouts.

Mike MacDougal allowed Shea Hillenbrand’s RBI single in the ninth, but got Aaron Hill to ground into a double play to finish his 15th save in 17 chances, including his 14th straight.

“It was pretty hot out there,” Carrasco said. “Not only was it hot, it was also pretty thick. Just one inning, there was a little slight breeze. I was perspiring a lot, so I had a sticky ball, and I didn’t want that. I like my ball nice and dry.”

Eric Hinske’s three-run homer in the fourth had given the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead.

“I had just given up a three-run home run to go down 4-0 and those guys came back and scored four runs. That’s awesome,” Carrasco said. “We had a great team victory today.”

Gaudin went 1 2/3 innings, giving up two runs and four hits. Joe McEwing’s RBI double in the fifth made it 5-4, then Brown’s RBI single gave the Royals a 6-4 lead.

Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells was removed and taken for precautionary X-rays after he fouled a ball off his left shin in the fifth inning. He went into the game leading the AL with 22 RBIs in July.

Lilly was charged with four runs and five hits. He struck out three.

Russ Adams tripled leading off the game and scored on Frank Catalanotto’s single. Gregg Zaun walked and Reed Johnson singled with one out in the fourth ahead of Hinske’s three-run homer, a 390-foot shot on a 1-1 pitch from Carrasco.

A quick look by Kansas City’s team doctor indicated that Lilly might have biceps tendinitis, Lilly said.

“I was locating the ball. I wasn’t throwing very hard but I was locating the ball,” he said. “And sometimes hitters get themselves out, too.”

Notes: DH/1B Mike Sweeney, who was hit by a pitch on the hand Friday on his 32nd birthday, missed a second straight game. He was expected to play on Monday. … After getting his first major league RBI, LF Chip Ambres stole his first base. … Gaudin picked Brown off first a moment after his RBI single put the Royals on top 6-4. … Hinske’s double in the second inning gave the Blue Jays at least one two-base hit in 22 straight games. … The Royals hold the slimmest of leads in the overall series, winning 154 and losing 153.