Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Dustin McGowan pitched seven strong innings in the team's fourth straight win on Sunday. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

Dustin McGowan turned in another stellar effort by a Blue Jays starter in Toronto's 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre on Sunday.

The win wasn't as lopsided as the complete-game efforts by Roy Halladay on Friday and Jesse Litsch on Saturday, but McGowan (3-4) had more than enough to lead the Jays to their fourth straight win and two games over the break-even mark (27-25).

The right-hander scattered nine hits over seven innings, allowing just one run with seven strikeouts and perhaps more importantly, no walks.

McGowan had given up nine free passes in his previous two starts.

"Walks generally come back to haunt you, they put you in a tough position, they use up pitches," Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's going to walk some guys. When you get those kind of arms, sometimes that happens. (But) he looked much better.

"He has been in a little bit of a rut. (Sunday) was a boost for him."

That's not to say that the Royals were without their chances, but they were hampered by mistakes on the basepaths and the Jays made them pay for it. Alex Rios and Shannon Stewart each made solid defensive plays to throw out runners in the fourth and fifth innings to extinguish scoring threats from Kansas City.

"They played great behind me," McGowan said after winning for the first time in four starts. "Rios throwing a runner out at home was big, and (Stewart) throwing a runner out at third was also big. That was really nice."

Gil Meche (3-7) took the loss for Kansas City, allowing two earned runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings.

Scott Downs pitched one shutout inning of relief while B.J. Ryan retired the side in order in the ninth for his 11th save in as many opportunities.

With the loss, the Royals have dropped seven straight games and fall to 2-8 on their current 11-game road trip. They'll try to wrap it up with a win on Monday afternoon as Brett Tomko (2-5, 5.76 ERA) takes the hill against Toronto's Shaun Marcum (4-3, 2.80 ERA).

Toronto opens scoring in first

McGowan received some early run support in the first inning as Stewart led off the game with an infield single and advanced to second on a ground out to third from Aaron Hill.

Scott Rolen then cashed in Stewart with an RBI-double to left and the Jays were up 1-0.

McGowan hit a spot of trouble in the fourth inning as Jose Guillen reached second on a double to right with one out. Guillen attempted to score from second after Billy Butler singled to centre, but Rios threw a one-hop strike to catcher Rod Barajas to nail him at the plate.

The Royals got on the board in the fifth inning but the damage could have been much worse if not for the defence of Stewart.

Ross Gload singled to lead off the frame, and moved to third on consecutive bunt singles from Tony Pena Jr. and Joey Gathright.

David DeJesus then hit a sacrifice fly to left that allowed Gload to tag up and score but Stewart alertly threw to third to nail a tagging Pena for a double play.

"That's the play of the game," said McGowan, who followed with a strikeout of Esteban German to keep the game tied.

Stewart drove in the go-ahead run for Toronto in the bottom half of the fifth. With runners on the corners and just one out, Stewart grounded into a force-out at second — cashing in Brad Wilkerson for a 2-1 Blue Jays lead.

With two out and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Rios hit a line drive single to centre to add an insurance run for Toronto.

The game also saw Lyle Overbay enter the Blue Jays record book in the second inning. Drawing a leadoff walk, the first baseman set a team record by reaching base in 12 straight plate appearances, eclipsing Tony Fernandez's mark of 11 from 1999.

The streak ended when DeJesus made a nice catch in foul territory in left on Overbay in the fourth.

"That's just I think a lot of luck more than anything," Overbay said of the streak. "We got the win, that's all that matters… I'll look back, but I'll probably forget about it."

With files from the Associated Press