Kansas City (55-105) at Toronto (79-81), 4:07 pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- A strict pitch count kept Kansas City Royals rookie J.P. Howell from pursuing a no-hitter in his last start. He makes his final start of the season Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays .

Howell (3-5, 6.78 ERA) threw 97 pitches in five scoreless innings against the Minnesota Twins on Monday before manager Buddy Bell took him out. He struck out seven and walked three.

The Blue Jays counter with Dave Bush (5-11, 4.45), who was 1-4 with a 5.00 ERA in September. He yielded three runs and six hits in six innings of Tuesday's loss at Boston.

John-Ford Griffin drove in four runs and Frank Catalanotto added three RBI to lead Toronto to its third win in four outings, a 10-1 victory over Kansas City.

The Royals dropped to 21-58 on the road and set a franchise record for most losses in a season, surpassing the mark set last year. Kansas City has 100 defeats in three of the last four seasons.

Zach Greinke took the loss and leads the American League with 17, snapping a tie with teammate Jose Lima .