TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals gave the Toronto Blue Jays several gifts in the seventh but took them away an inning later.

After squandering a five-run lead in the seventh, the Royals rallied for two in the eighth and held on for a 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays .

Entering the seventh with a 5-0 lead, the Royals committed a pair of errors that led to six runs by the Blue Jays . Frank Catalanotto , who is hitting .500 (12-for-24) with 13 RBI in his last five games, capped the outburst with a three-run double.

"I've been seeing the ball good the last week," said Catalanotto, who was a single shy of hitting for the cycle against Boston on Wednesday. "It sure would be nice to play another couple of weeks."

Catalanotto has driven in at least three runs in each of his last four games.

Pete Walker (6-6), who started the eighth, allowed back-to-back singles by leadoff hitter Mark Teahen and John Buck before giving way to Jason Frasor . Justin Huber greeted the righthander with a sacrifice fly and Andres Blanco , who made one of the fielding blunders an inning earlier, followed with a run-scoring single to put Kansas City ahead.

"We do things like (the previous inning), we don't usually come back," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "So it was nice to come back, especially in that next inning."

Ambiorix Burgos (3-5) picked up the win despite yielding a pair of runs in the seventh. Jeremy Affeldt worked a hitless eighth and Mike MacDougal tossed a perfect ninth for his 21st save.

Matt Stairs went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Terrence Long belted a two-run homer for the Royals, who won for just the fifth time in their last 18 road games.

"Who cares if it was ugly," Stairs said. "At least we got the W today. Coming back shows promise and shows we have character as a team."

In the seventh, after Aaron Hill drew a one-out walk from Kansas City starter J.P. Howell, Eric Hinske hit a grounder that was misplayed by second baseman Blanco. Alex Rios loaded the bases with an infield single and Frank Menechino plated a run with a ground ball that was booted by shortstop Angel Berroa .

Burgos came on and allowed an RBI single by Guillermo Quiroz , walked Reed Johnson to force in a run and yielded Catalanotto's three-run double.

The Royals built their 5-0 lead on an RBI single by Stairs in the first, Long's two-run homer in the third and a run-scoring double and single by Buck and Blanco, respectively, in the sixth.

Howell lasted 6 1/3 innings, surrendering four unearned runs, four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. The rookie lefthander has not allowed an earned run in his last two starts.

"I'm just happy with the way I ended the year," Howell said. "The main thing I did today was, I visualized the pitch before each and every pitch, and that was key for me today. I'm going to try and carry that over the offseason and into spring training next year."

The loss guaranteed Toronto (79-82) its second straight sub-.500 season and fourth in the last five years.

"We wanted to finish there (at .500)," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "It would have been nice to, but I just look at the big picture and some of the good things that happened this year."