Kansas City, Mo. ? Chris Young’s strong outing wasn’t enough to beat Mark Buehrle.

Young pitched into the seventh inning but took the loss as the Blue Jays beat Kansas City 6-2 Saturday to snap the Royals’ six-game winning streak.

Young (7-5) gave up three runs and five hits with two walks in six-plus innings. He left after giving up a single to Kevin Pillar to open the seventh.

“I felt like I executed most of my pitches to give us a chance, but again Buehrle was just better today,” Young said. “We lost the game. It doesn’t matter. That’s all I care about is winning the game.”

Buehrle pitched seven strong innings, and Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer to lead Toronto.

Buehrle (10-5) limited the Royals to two runs and five hits while improving to 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in his past four starts against them. It was Buehrle’s 26th victory over the Royals. Only Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, 34, has more wins against the Royals.

Encarnacion’s 18th home run in the fourth inning off Young ended the Blue Jays’ 27-inning scoring drought and gave them a 2-1 lead.

“I needed one more swing and miss on the Encarnacion pitch,” Young said. “He’s a good hitter. It was a mistake. I didn’t make too many mistakes today. He got it and it was the difference in the game. It’s a bad feeling as a pitcher, letting the team down with one pitch.”

Manager Ned Yost did not fault Young for the defeat.

“I thought Chris threw the ball great, one pitch and it wasn’t really a horrible pitch,” Yost said. “It’s a slider that got up just a little bit. When he first hit it, I wasn’t sure if it was going to get out.”

Toronto led 3-2 in the ninth when Danny Valencia, who the Royals traded last July 28 to the Blue Jays, hit a three-run homer off Kansas City Brandon Finnegan to extend the advantage.

“He was fat in the zone,” Yost said of Finnegan’s pitches. “He got behind in the count and when he needed to throw strikes, they were up a little bit, over the middle of the plate. They weren’t really quality strikes.”

And the Royals could not solve Buehrle.

“He’s got four pitches he throws for strikes,” Royals catcher Drew Butera said. “He commands all of them on both sides of the plate. He keeps hitters off balance. He’s back-and-forth, in-and-out. There’s no real pattern to it. He’s really good at reading swings. There’s a reason why he’s been around for a long time.”

Jose Reyes had three hits, stole three bases, walked, scored a run and drove in a run for the Blue Jays.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first as Alcides Escobar doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice and scored on Kendrys Morales’ grounder. It gave Morales 10 RBIs in his past 11 games, and 57 on the season.

The Royals had Alex Rios at third and Omar Infante at second with one out in the second, but Buehrle held them there by striking out Butera and getting Jarrod Dyson on a ground out.

Rios led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, moved to third on a fly ball to center and scored on Paulo Orlando’s grounder to pull the Royals within a run again.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: 3B Josh Donaldson left in the sixth inning after three at-bats with flu-like symptoms. He was replaced by Valencia.

Royals: RHP Kris Medlen (rehabbing from 2014 reconstructive elbow surgery) allowed three runs, all on solo home runs, in a start Friday for Triple-A Omaha against Iowa. He walked none and struck out seven, throwing 62 strikes in 89 pitches.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: LHP Felix Doubront will make his second start after beating the White Sox on Tuesday, allowing one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez is 0-3 in four career starts against Toronto, allowing 19 earned runs over 19 1/3 innings.