Billy Butler continued his assault on Toronto pitching, going 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, as the Kansas City Royals cruised past the host Blue Jays 9-6 Thursday night.

Butler had two singles and a pair of doubles, the second of which drove in the final two Kansas City runs as the Royals took two out of three in the series. The veteran designated hitter went 8-for-15 with a home run and five RBIs in the three-game set.

His big night came in support of Jeff Francis (5-14), who limited Toronto to a pair of runs over six strong innings. The British Columbia native improved to 3-0 lifetime against the Blue Jays.

Melky Cabrera added three hits - including his 17th home run of the season - and scored three times in the victory.

J.P. Arencibia hit a two-run homer for Toronto, his 20th of the campaign. That equaled the franchise record for home runs in a season by a catcher set by John Buck last year.

Edwin Encarnacion added a two-run shot in the ninth inning while Kelly Johnson finished 1-for-2 with a pair of walks in his first game with Toronto since coming over in a trade with Arizona earlier this week.

Toronto starter Brett Cecil (4-7) was tagged for five runs on nine hits over 6 1/3 innings to fall to 0-3 over his last five starts.