Blue Jays bats silenced by Royals in Game 1 of ALCS

Toronto's Troy Tulowitzki noticed something different about Royals starter Edinson Volquez when he dug in for his first at-bat of the American League Championship Series.

Something you could only tell by standing in the batter's box or holding a radar gun.

"I think his velocity was a little higher than it normally is," Tulowitzki said after an 0-for-4 night in a 5-0 Game 1 loss Friday night. "He was hitting his spots. He did a good job."

Good? Try downright dominant.

Volquez combined with three relievers on a three-hitter and Salvador Perez hit a soaring home run off Toronto starter Marco Estrada.

The Blue Jays' three hits were their fewest ever in a postseason game.

"Tonight was the Volquez show. He was tremendous," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He shut down a good-hitting team, I know that. His ball was ducking and darting everywhere."

Volquez normally pitches in the low 90s, but his fastball was nipping at 96 mph on Friday night. He didn't allow a hit until his 56th pitch, when Chris Colabello chopped a single up the middle with two outs in the fourth, snapping a postseason hitless streak of 10 2-3 innings for the Royals one out shy of matching the record set by the New York Yankees in 1939.

The biggest of the Blue Jays' big bats made the quietest outs, too.

Jose Bautista went down looking in the fourth inning, while Edward Encarnacion struck out looking in the sixth. Donaldson managed a walk off Volquez but little else, while Tulowitzki one of the Blue Jays' big deadline acquisitions had two strikeouts.

"They got Game 1," Tulowitzki said, "but it's no time to press the panic button."

Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain drove in runs off Estrada (1-1), while Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales tacked on two more off LaTroy Hawkins to put the game away.

"It's always great when you can take the lead you pitch the first inning, you come back to the dugout and right from the get-go you score some runs," said Volquez, who had been 0-3 with an 8.76 ERA in three career post-season starts. "It's less pressure for everybody, I think."

As if the outcome wasn't bad enough for Toronto, Encarnacion, the designated hitter, left in the eighth inning to get X-rays on the middle finger of his left hand. The initial report was a strain of the ligament and Encarnacion was listed as day-to-day.

"He's been battling this thing," Gibbons said. "We'll see how it goes."

The Royals will try to take a 2-0 series lead when they send Yordano Ventura to the mound on Saturday. Toronto will counter with former Cy Young Award winner David Price.

"Hopefully things change to our favour tomorrow," Toronto catcher Dioner Navarro said.