Strong pitching earns Royals Game One win over Blue Jays

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. Toronto was shut out only five times during the regular season.

Johnny Cueto, obtained at the Trade Deadline, barely resembled the ace the Royals had anticipated until his masterpiece in the final game of the ALDS against the Astros.

“I’m out there playing so obviously I’m good enough to go”, Tulowitzki said.

Edinson Volquez has been looking for that elusive first postseason victory.

Davis gave up a leadoff single and walked pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington, but bounced back to strike out leadoff man Ben Revere and MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Then Jose Bautista wound up drawing a walk on nine pitches.

Volquez struck out Edwin Encarnacion for the first out on a sinker that caught the outside corner.

As shaky was Estrada was, Volquez was downright stoic as he circled the mound.

“They gave me more energy to pitch the way I pitched in that inning”, Volquez said. He made 90 pitches, 64 for strikes.

Ryan Madson worked around a single and a walk in the eighth and Luke Hochevar capped it off with a hitless ninth.

“Everyone says just continue to swing the bat and to get on base”, Escobar said. Usually within a day or two it calms down on him and he’s able to get through it. We’ll see. The lack of options for Gibbons is particularly disadvantageous in the post-season when pitcher-batter matchups become all the more important.

Despite Gibbons’ continued insistence that it had nothing to do with getting Price a relief win, or ensuring that he would be out of the mix in Game 5, that narrative has persisted.

The Royals opened the scoring with two runs in the third.

“He had everything going, great fastball… on the attack from the first inning on”. On both of Escobar’s doubles against the Jays, he connected on the first pitch.

Asked about those years together, Yost acknowledged before Game 1 on Friday: “I didn’t take full advantage of Gibby when he was here”.

The 29-year-old lefty, the team’s longest tenured pitcher who had been arguably baseball’s best reliever in the second half of the season, broke down and cried when he heard his first career playoff was ending so abruptly.

Lorenzo Cain followed with a clean single to extend his postseason hit streak to 11 games, matching a franchise record. Salvador Perez’s fourth-inning home run also came on the first pitch.

“We’re not going to strike out, but you have to remind them sometimes”, Sveum said. “We count on him; he knows the team counts on him”. Insurance runs were big for us.

“Early on I thought he was especially sharp, then he looked like he lost a little bit but he knows how to survive”.

Unfortunately for Estrada, he couldn’t contain Kansas City, as he allowed three runs (all earned) on six hits and struck out six in taking the loss in a 5-0 defeat.

Gibbons said he harbors no ill will over their time together. “He had to, and it is challenging to get through the lineup for the third time”. “I think his velocity was a little higher than it normally is”, Tulowitzki said. We’re not built as a team to play that kind of game, and he kind of fits that role.

“We needed to catch a break”, the Royals’ Alex Gordon said, “and Zobrist’s ball was it”. “That’s just the way it goes sometime”. Tonight, the ball wasn’t really flying much.

NOTES: C Dioner Navarro was in the Blue Jays’ lineup, not C Russell Martin, as he developed into RHP Marco Estrada’s personal catcher….

The series matches the American League’s top teams, with the Royals (95-67) and Jays (93-69) finishing 1-2 in the standings.

Gibbons was Royals manager Ned Yost’s bench coach in 2010 and 2011 before he was let go. The likely candidates are RHP Kris Medlen or RHP Chris Young….

For most of the season, the Royals’ rotation was cited as the most likely obstacle to the their chances of returning to the World Series.