The Toronto Blue Jays are supposed to be in an easier part of their schedule against below .500 teams, but it has not started that way.

Sometimes it is not who you play, but when you play them.

The Blue Jays opened their stretch against teams with losing records Tuesday night with a 5-3 defeat to the Kansas City Royals, who have won nine games in a row for the first time since 2017.

The middle contest of the three-game series between the Royals and Blue Jays will be Wednesday night in Toronto.

"They've strung together a nice stretch of games here, and I'm glad they are getting rewarded for it," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.

Kansas City had 10 hits and walked nine times on Tuesday.

"It's incredible," said catcher Carter Jensen, who had a single, a walk and a sacrifice fly. "One through nine, everybody is putting up amazing at-bats. No one is taking any pitches off, and no one is giving away any at-bats."

The Royals, however, did strand 14 runners.

By losing the opener of a six-game homestand, the Blue Jays have dropped three of their past four games and cannot continue that trend if they want to stay in the American League wild-card race.

The Blue Jays did not help themselves on Tuesday: First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s throwing error on a bunt helped the Royals to a two-run sixth.

When Toronto rallied in the ninth, Nathan Lukes was out at second to end the game as he tried to stretch his two-run single to left-center field. Guerrero would have been the next batter.

"I think there you just want to be careful and get the tying run up there, with the middle of the order coming," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "If it's going to be that close. I think just put the brakes on."

Said Quatraro: "I don't know if I've seen a game end that way on a relay and ball in the gap like that. But I'm glad it did end that way."

The Royals will start right-hander Randy Dobnak (2-1, 1.58 ERA) on Wednesday. He has never faced Toronto in his career.

Right-hander Spencer Miles (5-2, 3.02 ERA) is expected to be the opener for the Blue Jays in what will be a bullpen game. He has never faced the Royals.

Toronto put starting right-handed pitcher Shane Bieber on the 15-day injured list Tuesday because of inflammation of the teres major muscle in his throwing shoulder.

"He felt a little bit of discomfort in his bullpen Sunday in New York (vs. the Yankees), so he had an MRI that night when we got back," Schneider said. "It's a moderate to mild teres major injury, which sucks for him and sucks for us. He'll be down from throwing for a couple of weeks and we'll go from there. ... This is tough timing, for sure, with where we are and how Shane was throwing, too. We've dealt with it before this year, and we'll continue to do it."

Right-hander Chad Dallas was recalled by Toronto from Triple-A Buffalo.

Meanwhile, Royals second baseman Michael Massey left Tuesday's game in the fifth after making a superb play to throw out Lukes at first. Massey lost his balance and fell backward on the play, hitting his head.

"That's why we took him out," Quatraro said of the circumstances. "He's doing well now. We're just going to have to monitor him overnight and see that he is all right. ... It was just a little bit of neck soreness right away. But it's resolved."

Massey was 0-for-2 with a walk. He was replaced by Tyler Tolbert, who was 1-for-2 with a stolen base.