KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Interstat) — Noah Cameron pitched into the seventh inning, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino hit back-to-back home runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 on Saturday night to prevent Toronto from clinching a playoff spot.

In a crisp game that lasted just 2 hours, 21 minutes, the Royals evened their record at 78-77 while the Blue Jays fell to 89-66, their magic number to secure a postseason berth frozen for another day.

Cameron (9-7) allowed one run on three hits in 6 2/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts for his third straight quality start. The left-hander allowed one base runner in every inning except the first and sixth, exiting with two out in the seventh after Daulton Varsho’s solo homer. His nine wins match Bill Butler in 1969 for the most by a Royals rookie left-hander.

The game was a pitcher’s duel from the start, with both teams managing just four hits apiece. The only offense came in a two-batter span in the fourth inning and a lone response in the seventh.

Toronto’s Shane Bieber (3-2) was the hard-luck loser, matching Cameron for much of the night. He allowed two runs on four hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out four. The damage against him was swift and decisive.

After three scoreless innings, Witt led off the bottom of the fourth by launching his 23rd home run of the season to straightaway center field, tying the game. On the very next pitch, Pasquantino followed by crushing his 31st homer to right-center, giving the Royals a 2-1 lead and sending the crowd of 25,774 at Kauffman Stadium into a frenzy.

Bieber settled down after the homers, retiring the next three batters and not allowing another hit until the seventh inning.

The Blue Jays, who were shut down in a 20-1 loss to the Royals on Friday, struggled to generate offense against Cameron. Their best early chance came in the third inning when George Springer doubled with two outs, but he was left stranded.

Toronto finally broke through in the seventh. After Cameron retired the first two batters, Varsho connected for his 19th home run, a solo shot to center that cut the deficit to 2-1 and ended Cameron’s night.

John Schreiber came on and got Addison Barger to fly out to left field to end the inning.

The Royals’ bullpen sealed the victory. Taylor Clarke pitched a perfect eighth inning, and Carlos Estévez worked around a one-out single by Ty France in the ninth for his 41st save. Estévez got Daulton Varsho to fly out to deep center and Ernie Clement to line out to end the game.

The victory was a stark contrast to the teams’ previous meeting and defied pregame projections. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a 7-5 Toronto victory, and its ELO system gave the Blue Jays a 52.9% probability to win.

The teams conclude their three-game series on Sunday.