TORONTO (Ticker) -- Gustavo Chacin and the Toronto Blue Jays were happy to end their season on a winning note. The Kansas City Royals are glad to just end it.

Chacin worked into the eighth inning and Frank Cattalanotto had three hits and two RBI as the Blue Jays recorded a 7-2 victory over the Royals in the season finale for both teams.

One of the American League's most impressive rookies, Chacin (13-9) concluded his inaugural campaign in style Sunday. The 25-year-old lefthander allowed two runs - one earned - and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings. He walked only one and struck out three, throwing 69 of 104 pitches for strikes.

"I pitched a great game today," said Chacin, who tied Josh Towers for the team lead in wins. "I threw a lot of strikes and all of my pitches were working good."

It was the 34th start of the year for Chacin, matching Jerry Garvin 's 1977 mark for the most starts in a season by a Blue Jays rookie.

"It was a great year - my first year in the big leagues," Chacin said. "I feel great; I'm healthy and my arm is OK. I'm ready for the next season."

Chacin took a 2-1 lead into the fifth, when the Blue Jays ' offense gave him plenty of runs to work with. Cattalanotto delivered in an RBI triple in the frame, which also included a run-scoring single by Vernon Wells . Eric Hinkse capped the rally with a two-run shot - his 14th - for a 4-1 lead.

John-Ford Griffin belted his first career homer in the sixth for Toronto (80-82), which won five of its final six games to finish with a 13-win improvement from 2004.

"It was great," Griffin said. "I was just trying to put a good swing on it and fortunately it went out. Hopefully there will be a lot more of those."

Royals starter Runelvys Hernandez (8-14) was blasted for six runs and 10 hits in five innings to conclude his season with a four-game losing streak.

"My fastball was not working very well," said Hernandez, who allowed 40 earned runs over his final 39 1/3 innings. "I made a couple of mistakes and that was the difference."

"He was just up with everything," Kansas City manager Buddy Bell said. "He didn't have his normal command. He was out for a couple of weeks (because of a back injury) and he couldn't really regain his normal command."

Kansas City (56-106) set a franchise record for losses and became the first team to lose at least 100 games in three out of four seasons since Toronto in 1977-79.

"It was a disappointing year," Royals outfielder Aaron Guiel said. "The fate of our season was decided quite a while ago. We're a young team trying to rebuild, so it's important for us to try to correct a lot of mistakes that we have been making."