KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kyle Drabek picked up a win with an uneven performance.

Adam Lind and J.P. Arencibia each hit a two-run homer to lead Drabek and the Toronto Blue Jays to an 8-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

"There are some good things I can take from it," Drabek said. "We never would have got the win if it wasn't for the rest of the team. They were scoring and making plays for me. I tried to keep us in the game, but that last inning got a little bit wild. It was another game I would go 3-2 to most batters or start 2-0 and have to come back. It seems like it keeps happening. It needs to change."

Drabek (4-4) laboured through 5 1-3 innings. He gave up five runs on nine hits, three walks and four wild pitches.

The rookie right-hander failed to get out of the first inning in his previous start, a loss against Cleveland.

"His command came and went," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "The fact was he was on the mound in the sixth inning despite some erratic command and I really felt like he fought his way through the lineup three times. It wasn't a perfect night for him.

"I actually complimented him on continuing to grind through it. He fought himself throughout the night. His secondary stuff was really non-existent, and yet he found a way to get into the sixth inning. Tonight was a blue-collar outing for him. He showed his competitiveness and doesn't back down from a challenge. He didn't cave even on a night when it was a struggle for him."

Lind homered off Vin Mazzaro in a three-run first inning. Jose Bautista was aboard on a single.

Yunel Escobar scored the first Blue Jays run with the help of two Kansas City errors. Escobar singled, stole second, moved to third on catcher Matt Treanor's throwing error and came home on centre-fielder Melky Cabrera's throwing error.

Arencibia hit his 10th homer, which ranks second among big league rookies, in the eighth with Lind aboard to make it 8-5.

"It's huge anytime you have a cushion over a one-run lead. That's big," Arencibia said. "That's a big gap and with Jon Rauch coming in, I like our chances. My three previous at-bats I was really late on my swings. I wasn't recognizing pitches and wasn't making good swings. I came in and finally watched how late I was. This at-bat, I'm going to make an adjustment, saw the ball pretty well, got into a hitter's count and got a good fastball to hit."

Lind also drove in a run in the fifth when his sacrifice fly scored Mike McCoy to hike the Blue Jays' advantage to 6-2. McCoy doubled home Jayson Nix with the first run of the inning.

Escobar left after three innings with a bruised left quadriceps after being kneed in the thigh while stealing second base in the first. He was replaced by McCoy.

Rookie left-hander Luis Perez replaced Drabek and threw 2 2-3 scoreless innings, extending his shutout streak to 10 innings. Rauch worked the ninth for his seventh save in nine chances.

Jeff Francoeur drove in the first three Kansas City runs with two singles and a sacrifice fly.

Rookie first baseman Eric Hosmer had two singles, extending his hitting streak to a career-high nine games, walked and scored two runs. Cabrera also had two hits and drove in a run.

Mazzaro (0-1), just recalled from Triple-A Omaha, was making his first big league appearance since giving up 14 runs on 11 hits and three walks in 2 1-3 innings against the Indians on May 16. The last pitcher to give up at least 14 runs in less than three innings was Ed Doheny of the New York Giants on June 29, 1899.

"After the first inning I settled down pretty good," Mazzaro said. "It was an OK outing. It could have been better."

NOTES: Royals RHP Kyle Davies (shoulder inflammation) and LHP Bruce Chen (strained left lat) are scheduled to begin minor league rehab assignments Wednesday with double-A Northwest Arkansas. They are both scheduled to start in a doubleheader against Arkansas. ... RHP Carlos Villanueva, who starts Wednesday for the Blue Jays, is 2-0 with a 1.66 ERA and is holding opponents to a .127 batting average in eight road games.