KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ When the Royals opened their clubhouse to members of the media Wednesday afternoon, the bass-driven beat of reggaeton music filtered out the doors from a speaker in the back corner of the room.
There was just a smattering of Royals lingering there to listen, most occupying the right bank of lockers.
But one of the players listening intently to the music sat on the opposite side, surrounded by no one as he alternated between grooving to the tunes and studying a stack of papers. It was Jorge Lopez, the 25-year-old pitcher the Royals recalled from Class AAA Omaha to start Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium. He was new here, trying to find comfort in his first day wearing a Kansas City uniform since being acquired from the Brewers alongside Brett Phillips in the trade of Mike Moustakas last month. He seemed to find it in idle, across-the-room chit-chat.
But as the Royals lost to the Blue Jays 6-5, Lopez did not find comfort on the mound. The right-hander retired three in a row to start the game, then made it through the next two innings yielding just one run on four hits.
But in the fourth inning, Lopez allowed the Blue Jays to load the bases in front of Curtis Granderson. And Granderson made Lopez pay, clubbing the 10th grand slam of his career to give the Blue Jays a 6-2 lead that the Royals never overcame.
Lopez logged 4 2/3 innings and allowed six earned runs on eight hits.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez tried to spark the offense. He went 3 for 4 with two home runs, driving in three of the Royals' runs.
In the ninth inning, rookie Ryan O'Hearn smoked a 403-foot pinch-hit home run to right field against closer Ken Giles. But the Royals could not build on the momentum.
After Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada allowed four runs to score in his 6 2/3 innings of work, the Toronto bullpen held the Royals to one hit the rest of the way.
The Royals fell to 36-84, as they lost for the 11th time in 14 games this month.
