Royals 5, Blue Jays 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Edinson Volquez and three Kansas City Royals relievers combined to shutout the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Blue Jays, who topped the majors with 891 runs in the regular season -- 127 more than any other club -- were limited to three singles. The Blue Jays were shut out only five times during the regular season.
Volquez weaved through a treacherous sixth inning, throwing 37 pitches and reaching full counts on four batters. He walked Josh Donaldson to start the inning. He had Jose Bautista down in the count 0-2 and he fouled off the next two pitches. Bautista wound up drawing a walk on nine pitches. That brought up Edwin Encarnacion, who struck out looking.
Chris Colabello lined out to left fielder Alex Gordon on a full-count pitch. Again, Troy Tulowitzki worked the count full before looking at a 95 mile per hour sinker for a called strike.
Volquez walked off the mound with 39,753 fans standing and chanting, "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie."
With Volquez's pitch count at 111, Kelvin Herrera took the baton in the seventh. He threw nine pitches, all strikes, in retiring the Blue Jays in order, striking out two.
Ryan Madson worked around a single and a walk in the eighth and Luke Hochevar finished it up with a hitless ninth.
The Royals broke through first with two runs in the third. Gordon started the inning by pulling a Marco Estrada 91 mile per hour fastball into the right-field corner. After one out, shortstop Alcides Escobar hit a ground-ball double to right on an Estrada curveball, scoring Gordon. Escobar, a notorious first-pitch swinger, doubled on the first two Estrada pitches he viewed.
Center fielder Lorenzo Cain's two-out single brought Escobar home. Cain extended his postseason-hitting streak to 11 games, one shy of the Royals' record held by Amos Otis.
The Royals hiked their lead to 3-0 in the fourth when catcher Salvador Perez homered on Estrada's first offering over the left-center fence after two out.
The Royals padded their lead in the eighth with an Eric Hosmer double scoring Escobar, who was hit by a LaTroy Hawkins pitch to lead off the inning. Hosmer's laser double came within inches of clearing the right-field field fence.
Kendrys Morales' sacrifice fly scored Ben Zobrist, who had reached on an infield stop and stopped at third on Hosmer's double.
Estrada, who led the American League by holding hitters to a .203 average in the regular season, gave up three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
NOTES: Blue Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion left after seven innings to have his left middle finger X-rayed. ... C Dioner Navarro was in the Blue Jays' lineup, not C Russell Martin, as he developed into RHP Marco Estrada's personal catcher. ... LHP Brett Cecil, who suffered a left calf injury in the ALDS, was not on the Toronto ALCS roster. RHP Ryan Tepera replaced Cecil. ... The Royals went with the same roster as they did in the ALDS series against Houston. ... Royals manager Ned Yost said he does not yet have a Game 4 starter. The likely candidates are RHP Kris Medlen or RHP Chris Young. ... Blue Jays LHP David Price and Royals RHP Yordano Ventura are the Saturday probables. Royals RF Alex Rios has a .400 average (12-for-32) with two home runs and 10 RBIs off Price. ... The Royals and Blue Jays met in the 1985 postseason, with Kansas City rallying from a three games-to-one deficit to win the series.