Caglianone goes 5 for 6 with HR, 6 RBIs to power the Royals past the Blue Jays 13-2

TORONTO (AP) — Jac Caglianone had a homer among his career-best five hits and finished with a career-high six RBIs, Noah Cameron pitched six strong innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-2 on Thursday night.

The Blue Jays are 3 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the race for the final American League wild-card spot.

The Royals took two of three in the series, have won 10 of their last 11 games and four consecutive series, including two straight on the road after starting the season 3-15-2 in road sets. Kansas City, which went in tied with the Giants for the worst road record in MLB, is 24-45 away from home this season.

Cameron (9-8) allowed six hit and two runs and struck out three.

Carter Jensen hit a 421-foot homer off Spencer Arrighetti to lead off the game, and Vinnie Pasquantino hit a two-run homer that capped Kansas City's six-run sixth and made it 10-0.

Caglianone's two-run shot with two out in the ninth capped the scoring.

Bobby Witt Jr. and Kyle Isbel each had a run-scoring double.

Pasquantino had his string of consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout ended at a career-best 38 when he fanned in the first inning. It was the longest active streak in MLB.

George Springer hit his 13th homer of the season, a two-run shot, with two out in the sixth that ended Cameron's scoreless streak at 19 2/3 innings.

Arrighetti (7-7), who went in 0-2 with a 16.00 ERA in two career starts against Kansas City, allowed four runs — three earned — in four innings.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remained second in Toronto's batting order and went 0 for 3. The first baseman is hitting a career-worst .260 and has just seven home runs, none at home, this season.

Royals RHP Michael Wacha (7-8, 3.49 ERA) Friday at Cleveland. The Guardians have not named a starter.

Blue Jays RHP Dylan Cease (8-5, 2.37 ERA) starts Friday against the Mariners at home. Seattle has not named a starter.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Toronto Blue Jays' George Springer (4), right, celebrates with Alejandro Kirk (30) after hitting a two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals during sixth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)

Kansas City Royals' Vinnie Pasquantino (9) celebrates with his team after hitting a two-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during sixth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)

Kansas City Royals pitcher Noah Cameron (65) works against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)

Kansas City Royals' Jac Caglianone (14) hits a two-run single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via AP)

A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.

The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks.

The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision lifting an earlier ruling of Talwani's that had blocked Trump’s order from taking effect.

The ruling Thursday came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision. The high court's conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order, instead saying the legal challenges against it that led Talwani to initially freeze it were filed too soon.

Now the administration has issued a formal rule governing whether the U.S. Postal Service will deliver states’ mail ballots, effectively restarting the legal fight.

The whipsawing legal battle has major ramifications for the midterms. Nearly one-third of Americans vote by mail and election officials contend there isn’t enough time to revise their systems to comply with the new Postal Service directives.

The Postal Service says it won’t deliver mail ballots unless states provide a list of voters who should receive them and format the envelopes in a certain way.

“Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms," Talwani wrote Thursday.

A hearing in the case is set for Sept. 3.

Democrats and voting rights groups contend the demand is unconstitutional. The Constitution, they note, grants states and, in some cases, Congress the power to make election rules — not the president or Postal Service.

That reasoning led courts to block Trump’s first executive order, issued last year, that sought to change election procedures, such as requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register.

The president has long targeted mail voting, which he falsely blames for his 2020 election loss even though he himself uses it to cast his ballot.

A report by the Brookings Institution published in 2025 found that mail voting fraud occurred in only about four cases out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

Trump issued the executive order targeting mail voting, his second one related to elections since he returned from office, in March.

Opponents quickly sued, but the administration argued the claims were premature because it hadn’t issued rules outlining how it would implement the order. The administration won an initial case in Washington, D.C., with that reasoning, but Talwani placed injunctions against implementing the order for the November midterms in two separate cases she heard in Boston.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday struck down one of those holds, finding it was premature.

Talwani, nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, removed the second injunction Wednesday. The plaintiffs then moved to refile their cases, citing the Postal Service’s publishing of its final rule, in hopes of winning a more durable victory. It’s likely the case will again end up in front of the high court.

An election worker sorts vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office for the Florida primary election in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)