KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals earned another champagne shower at Kauffman Stadium.

Lorenzo Cain sprinted home from first base on Eric Hosmer’s single in the eighth inning, Wade Davis weathered a 45-minute rain delay and a white-knuckle ninth, and Kansas City beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 Friday night to earn its second straight trip to the World Series.

Davis retired Blue Jays star Josh Donaldson on a grounder with runners on second and third to end Game 6 of the AL Championship Series.

The Royals open the World Series on Tuesday night at home against the New York Mets. A year ago, they lost in Game 7 to San Francisco.

“We came in with one goal and that was to get back to the World Series. It can’t be any better than this,” Cain said.

Jose Bautista’s second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the top of the eighth, lifted Toronto into a 3-3 tie.

But any momentum Toronto might have had was washed away when a line of rain swept through town, sending players and fans scurrying for cover.

After the delay, Cain promptly worked a leadoff walk from closer Roberto Osuna, and Hosmer followed with a clean single that Bautista fielded down the right-field line.

Rather than hit the cutoff man, though, Bautista threw to second to keep Hosmer to a single. That gave the speedy Cain, running full speed the entire way and being waved home by third base coach Mike Jirschele, enough time to beat the relay throw from second base with a textbook slide that ignited a sellout crowd.

“I was hustling all the way,” Cain said. “I don’t know what happened I just kept going.”

Then it was up to Davis, who got the Royals out of a jam in the eighth, to finish it off.

Davis gave up a single to Russell Martin and walked Kevin Pillar before striking out pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro. After stolen bases put runners on second and third, Davis struck out Ben Revere, then got Donaldson on a bouncer to third.

Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar was voted the ALCS MVP after going 11 for 23 (.478). And for the fifth time in two years, the Royals clinched a postseason series at home.

“The made a run at it,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said. “I really couldn’t be more proud of our guys. They laid it out every day, they’re great competitors and a fun bunch, fun to be around every day.”

Ben Zobrist and Mike Moustakas homered, and Alex Rios also drove in a run for Kansas City, which ended an embarrassing 29-year postseason drought just last season.

The Royals eventually swept their way to the World Series, where they succumbed to the Giants in Game 7 with the tying run standing 90 feet away.

Kansas City will try to do one win better against the Mets. The Royals last won the crown in 1985.

For the Blue Jays, it was a frustrating ending to a late-season surge that ended their own postseason drought dating to 1993. They had rallied from a 2-0 series deficit against Texas in the divisional round, then staved off elimination against the Royals in Game 5 in Toronto.

They simply couldn’t win their sixth straight elimination game.

The Royals wasted no time taking the lead off David Price, the Blue Jays ace who has been so good during the regular season but remains winless in eight career postseason starts.

Zobrist pounced on the tall left-hander in the first inning, pulling a 1-1 pitch from his old Tampa Bay teammate down the left-field line. Zobrist’s second homer of the series gave Kansas City the lead and sent a capacity crowd of 40,494 into a towel-waving frenzy.

They hardly stopped by the time Moustakas came to bat in the second.

After scrawling the initials of his late mother, Connie, into the dirt with the end of his bat, Moustakas sent a 1-2 pitch from Price screaming over the fence in right. The ball was caught by a fan, 19-year-old Caleb Humphreys of nearby Blue Springs, Missouri, and the umpires briefly reviewed whether fan interference should be called on the play.

The review lasted 1 minute, 47 seconds, before crew chief John Hirschbeck announced that the replays were inconclusive. The home run stood and Kansas City had a 2-0 lead.

Rios added an RBI single in the seventh, but only after two marvelous plays by Toronto limited the damage. Revere made a leaping grab at the fence to rob Salvador Perez of a two-run shot to left, and second baseman Ryan Goins made a sliding grab to rob Alex Gordon of a single.

The defensive plays proved critical when Ryan Madson came on to pitch the eighth.

Madson allowed a leadoff single to Revere, and then struck out Donaldson, before peering in at Bautista in the box. The home run hitter who irked Kansas City fans all series followed his solo shot in the first inning with a tying, two-run homer to left that silenced the crowd — other than the smattering of boos directed at Madson on the mound.

The home run squandered a strong start by Yordano Ventura, who allowed only Bautista’s first homer of the series and three other harmless hits in 5 1/3 innings. But it didn’t seem to dent the confidence of the Royals, who have grown accustomed to tense postseason games.

There’s a reason they were defending American League champions, after all.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have established a reputation for dramatic postseason comebacks the past couple of years, beginning with last season’s wild-card victory over Oakland.

Turns out, the Toronto Blue Jays have some never-say-quit spirit as well.

After going on a second-half run to make the playoffs, then rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Texas in a best-of-five matchup, the Blue Jays will try to beat the Royals in another win-or-else situation in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series on Friday night.

Toronto forced the series back to Kansas City with a 7-1 rout on Wednesday, closing to 3-2.

“You look at all the elimination games, our offense has really come to life,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Thursday. “We’ve said all along that’s the key to our team, scoring runs. You hate to make a habit of it, but maybe we can pull it off again.”

David Price will take the mound for the Blue Jays after his collapse in Game 2, when he tossed six shutout innings and then surrendered five runs in the seventh.

Yordano Ventura will oppose him for Kansas City. He was only marginally better, allowing three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings before watching the comeback win from the dugout.

“I’m very fortunate and happy that this game has landed on my turn, here in Kansas City, and with the opportunity to take this club to the World Series,” Ventura said through catching coach Pedro Grifol, acting as a translator. “I’ll be ready for this game.”

The Blue Jays promise they will be, too.

Toronto lost the first two games against the Rangers at home, then won three straight with its season hanging in the balance. The first two were at Texas, and the last at Rogers Centre, but none of the victories was even close — all by at least three runs.

The Blue Jays lost the first two games in Kansas City, too. But in Game 3 in Toronto, the hosts overcame a 1-0 deficit and rolled to an 11-8 victory.

“We’ve been through a bunch of hurdles all year,” Blue Jays outfielder Chris Colabello said. “We were 7 1/2 games (back) at the deadlines. … We had to claw back from that. We were down two games back in the division series and we clawed back from that. I’ll tell you what, we’re going to leave everything we have out there.”

They may have to do just that. While the Blue Jays have won four straight elimination games, the Royals are 6-2 in their last eight postseason games at Kauffman Stadium.

Make no mistake, either: The ballpark matters in this series.

While the homer-happy Blue Jays were built with the small dimensions of Rogers Centre in mind, the speedy, defensive-minded Royals were built for their home park.

Not surprisingly, the Blue Jays failed to homer in the first two games of the ALCS in Kansas City, but hit four long balls in Toronto, including three in Game 3.

“Nothing but positivity. We’ve got a 3-2 lead and we’re heading back to Kansas City,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “That’s where we play our best baseball, so everyone is still feeling pretty good about the series.”

The big question in Game 6 is which starting pitchers will show up.

For the Blue Jays, will it be the Price who was dominant for six innings earlier this series, recording 18 straight outs at one point? Or the rattled former Cy Young Award winner who, when an easy popup fell for a single, proceeded to allow five runs in defeat, falling to 0-7 in seven career playoff starts?

“I know what I’m capable of doing and I think everybody in this room knows what I’m capable of doing,” he said. “I just kind of want to do it too bad. And it’s long overdue for me to get a win as a starter in the playoffs, and I’ll be ready to change that story tomorrow.”

For the Royals, will it be the Ventura who tossed seven innings of three-hit ball in the must-win Game 6 of last year’s World Series? Or the shaky 24-year-old who has a 6.57 ERA in the postseason, and who was far from perfect in his first try against Toronto?

“I’m just happy to be able to bring the series back home to Kansas City,” he said, “and I’ll be ready tomorrow to pitch and perform for my club.”

— Associated Press —

TORONTO (AP) — Marco Estrada took the mound with one task: save the season for the Toronto Blue Jays.

He did it, pitching one-hit ball into the eighth inning to give Toronto’s tattered bullpen a rest, and the Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1 Wednesday to close to 3-2 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.

“It’s the start that we needed,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. “They’re a great team over there. We know that. But this guy kept them off balance and allowed the offense to settle in and get some runs.”

Tulowitzki provided three of those runs. He broke the game open with a bases-clearing double off Kelvin Herrera in the sixth, giving him seven RBI in the series. Edwin Encarnacion had walked with the bases loaded against Edinson Volquez, who seemed flustered by a couple of close calls against the Royals.

Kansas City totaled 22 runs and 30 hits in the first two games in Toronto, but Estrada faced the minimum 20 batters before Lorenzo Cain walked with two outs in the seventh. Closer Roberto Osuna was perfect in the ninth.

Yordano Ventura will start for the defending AL champions on Friday in Game 6 against David Price, the Game 2 loser.

Estrada, a 32-year-old free-agent to be, kept the bullpen door closed for most of the afternoon, a day after Kansas City romped 14-2 in a game that saw infielder Cliff Pennington pitch in the ninth.

“This time around I had a better fastball command,” said Estrada, who gave up three runs in the opener. “That was the key to this game.”

Toronto is trying to become just the 13th team to rally and win among 80 who trailed 3-1 in best-of-seven postseason series. It has happened four of 17 times in the LCS, including when the Royals bounced back against the Blue Jays in 1985 en route to Kansas City’s only World Series title. In this year’s best-of-five Division Series, Toronto fell behind 0-2, then won three straight against Texas.

Before 49,325 roaring fans, Chris Colabello’s solo homer into the left-field seats in the second gave Estrada a lead. It was the only mistake by Volquez, the Game 1 winner.

Estrada didn’t make a miscue until Salvador Perez homered with two outs in the eighth. Estrada retired his first nine batters, ending at four Escobar’s record streak of leading off playoff games with hits.

Escobar, who entered 9 for 15 (.600), got Kansas City’s first hit when he opened the fourth with a ground single past a diving Tulowitzki.

Zobrist promptly grounded into a double play to second baseman Ryan Goins.

“He was really good today,” Escobar said. “He threw the ball down, down and away, down and in. He didn’t miss many pitches today.”

Kansas City had no other runners until Cain walked with two outs in the seventh. Price was up in the bullpen, but Estrada got Eric Hosmer to fly out.

Volquez allowed just two singles after Colabello connected but lost the strike zone in the sixth.

Ben Revere led off with a walk and Volquez hit Josh Donaldson with the first pitch. In August, Volquez hit Donaldson in a testy game that included a benches-clearing scrum.

He then walked Jose Bautista in a 10-pitch at-bat on a knuckle curve that looked to get a piece of the plate.

“I thought the pitch to Bautista was definitely a strike,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Yost shouted from the dugout for Perez to appeal to first base on ball four, thinking Bautista may have swung. But it was too loud in the closed-roof stadium for Perez to hear.

“We were trying to get their attention to get him to appeal it,” Yost said. “I don’t know if he was arguing the pitch, I don’t know what he was talking about.”

Encarnacion walked on another pitch that upset Volquez and Yost. Volquez turned his back to plate umpire Dan Iassogna as Revere jogged home for a 2-0 lead. It was his last batter.

“When you lose your fastball command, it’s hard for the umpire to give you the close pitches,” Volquez said.

Herrera relieved and struck out Colabello. With the crowd chanting “Tu-lo! Tu-lo!” Tulowitzki sent a drive to the center-field wall, sending fans into a towel-waving frenzy.

Bautista and Donaldson had consecutive doubles off Danny Duffy in the seventh to make it 6-0, and Kevin Pillar doubled in a run in the eighth.

STREAK SNAPPED

Cain’s Royals-record 13-game postseason hitting streak was snapped. He went 0 for 3.

UP NEXT

Price took a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning of Game 2 but gave up five straight hits and lost his seventh straight postseason start. Ventura gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

— Associated Press —

TORONTO (AP) — Whether it’s a long ball by Ben Zobrist, a slashing single from Lorenzo Cain or another exhilarating trip around the bases for Alcides Escobar, these Kansas City Royals are relentless — and one win from a return trip to the World Series.

Zobrist hit a two-run homer on knuckleballer R.A. Dickey’s fourth pitch of the game, Alex Rios connected an inning later and the Royals romped past the Toronto Blue Jays 14-2 on Tuesday for a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.

“We’re very confident,” Rios said. “We have a very well-balanced team from top to bottom.”

Cain scored on a passed ball and Mike Moustakas had a sacrifice fly in an LCS-record four-run top of the first. The 12-run gap represents the largest margin of victory by a road team in AL postseason history and fourth-largest margin in overall playoff history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Escobar had four RBIs and Cain drove in three runs as the Royals bounced back from an 11-8 loss Monday. Kansas City led 5-2 in the seventh before breaking away.

Blue Jays infielder Cliff Pennington relieved in the ninth inning, becoming the first primarily position player to pitch in the postseason, STATS said. Greeted by cheers, he allowed two hits and got one out.

“The circumstances aren’t what you want,” Pennington said of his first pitching appearance.

Kansas City can win the pennant Wednesday, when Edinson Volquez starts against Toronto’s Marco Estrada in a Game 1 rematch.

“It’s a do-or-die game for us,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said. “But they do it all year. I think these guys will let this one go and they’ll show up to play tomorrow. … I know these guys will be ready.”

After flashing power to build a 5-0 lead on the long ball, the Royals returned to their pesky ways late in the game against the Blue Jays’ struggling bullpen. They scored nine runs with three more sacrifice flies, a barrage of slashing hits and heads-up baserunning.

“We’re a good offensive team,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “Our park, our style of play is a little different. We like to use our legs and be athletic, but when we come to some of these parks where the fences aren’t as deep, we’ve got some guys that can put the ball in the seats.”

Blue Jays fans had seen enough after Cain’s two-run single in the eighth, turning their ever-optimistic cheers to jeers when Mark Lowe replaced Ryan Tepera.

Chris Young, 36, bested Dickey, 40, in a bookish matchup of veteran starters — only the pairing of the Yankees’ Randy Johnson and Detroit’s Kenny Rogers in the 2006 AL Division Series tops the duo for combined age.

But just like his counterpart’s effort in Game 4 of the division series against Texas, the 6-foot-10 Young was lifted one out shy of qualifying for a victory when Ned Yost went to his bullpen with a runner on first with two outs in the fifth. Yost wasn’t willing to take any chances against Josh Donaldson, who already had an RBI double.

“It’s not about personal stuff,” Young said. “It’s just feels great to contribute to such a great team win.”

Dickey never had a chance to get that first playoff victory in a 13-year big league career.

Escobar got a hit leading off for the fourth straight game, starting this one with a bunt down the third-base line. Zobrist connected for his first homer of the ALCS.

Rios homered against his former team in the second for a 5-0 lead. Booed all series by his old fans, he didn’t get any extra satisfaction out of the hit.

“It’s just another team we have to go out and beat,” Rios said.

After Dickey hit Escobar with a pitch — a call that needed replay review to get it right — he walked Cain one out later and was done after 1⅔ innings.

Young used that steep arm angle to outwit the powerful Jays, who were 53-28 at home in the regular season but just 11-14 with the roof closed — which it was Tuesday.

He held them hitless until Ryan Goins’ one-out single in the third. Donaldson drove him home with a ground-rule double down the left-field line on an 83 mph slider. Jose Bautista added an RBI grounder to close the gap to 5-2 and get those white towels twirling at Rogers Centre.

But Luke Hochevar, Ryan Madson, Kelvin Herrera and Franklin Morales shut down the Blue Jays the rest of the way.

Kansas City’s four-spot in the seventh made it 9-2. Escobar and Hosmer had sacrifice flies to deep center, Cain singled to extend his postseason hitting streak to 13 games and Alex Gordon scored on Tepera’s wild pitch.

Cain hit a two-run single in the eighth, and Escobar drove in two off Pennington in the ninth.

“We feel good. We like the way we’re playing right now,” Yost said. “Our offense has been really, really good.”

EMERGENCY

Blue Jays reliever Aaron Loup got a call after the game began and had to leave the team for personal reasons, Gibbons said. The Blue Jays’ manager didn’t know whether he would be allowed to replace the pitcher on the roster.

UP NEXT

Volquez pitched two-hit ball for six innings in a 5-0 win in the opener and recalled telling catcher Salvador Perez, “I feel sexy throwing down and away.” Estrada gave up three runs and six hits in 5⅓ innings.

— Associated Press —

TORONTO (AP) — Josh Donaldson and the slugging Toronto Blue Jays were eager to return to their homer dome after dropping the first two games of the AL Championship Series in Kansas City.

They showed everyone why.

The Blue Jays came out swinging and their rowdy fans were singing from the start, with Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki connecting in a six-run third inning as Toronto roughed up Johnny Cueto and the Royals for an 11-8 victory that cut Kansas City’s series lead to 2-1.

Ryan Goins also homered and had a two-run single a game after his misplayed pop fly set off Kansas City’s winning rally Sunday.

The resilient Royals tried to come back this time, too, scoring four runs in the ninth before Roberto Osuna closed it out.

Veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will try to get the Blue Jays even in the best-of-seven series Tuesday afternoon. He faces Kansas City’s 6-foot-10 right-hander Chris Young in Game 4.

Despite being outhit 15-11 by the pesky Royals, Toronto pounced on Kansas City’s pitching in the first ALCS game in Toronto since 1993 for their most runs ever at home in the postseason — after scoring just three in two games in Kansas City.

The Blue Jays needed them, too. Kansas City scored four times off starter Marcus Stroman and then added four in the ninth, capped by Kendrys Morales’ two-run homer off Osuna.

Seemingly not distracted by the contentious federal elections that were being held in Canada on Monday, 49,751 fans serenaded Cueto with a sing-song “Cueto-Cueto!” chant from the game’s first pitch and never quieted down.

The Royals took a quick lead when Alcides Escobar led off the game with a sinking liner that went under right fielder Jose Bautista’s glove for a triple off Stroman. Ben Zobrist drove in Escobar with a grounder, but that was the only advantage Kanas City would hold in having its nine-game ALCS winning streak snapped. The string dated to the 1985 series against Toronto.

Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar quashed that rally with a fantastic, over-the-shoulder catch that sent him crashing into the wall.

After an easy first, Cueto appeared flustered by the crowd. Eleven of his remaining 13 batters reached and at one point in the third inning he threw his hands up in frustration after gesturing for a new cycle of signs from catcher Salvador Perez.

Goins singled in two runs in the second after Tulowitzki singled with one out and Russell Martin was hit by a pitch that knocked off his left elbow guard. Goins pulled into second on the throw home and shouted and pumped his arms.

David Price, the losing pitcher in Game 2, led the cheering from the top step of the dugout.

When Goins scored on Donaldson’s hit, he was greeted first by the enthusiastic Stroman.

Entering in a 4-for-29 postseason slump, Tulowitzki connected for the Blue Jays’ first ALCS homer after Edwin Encarnacion singled and Chris Colabello walked to start the third.

Tulowitzki got a rare playoff ejection for arguing balls and strikes before the top of the eighth. He struck out looking in the seventh.

Cueto was coming off a dominant eight-inning performance in Game 5 of the ALDS, retiring his last 19 batters. But after giving up Pillar’s RBI double in the third, he was done.

The dreadlocked Dominican gave up six hits and eight runs in two-plus innings. He walked four and hit a batter with a pitch. As fans sang Cueto off the field, he smiled and tossed his gum near the Royals dugout.

Donaldson connected two batters after Kris Medlen entered for a 9-2 lead, and Goins homered off Medlen in the fifth as Toronto matched its postseason best with three homers in a game. The Blue Jays also hit three against Texas in Game 4 of the ALDS.

Stroman gave up two runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and an RBI single in an uncharacteristic performance for the 24-year-old who returned from a torn knee ligament in March to go 4-0 down the stretch and get the win in Game 5 of the ALDS. He allowed four runs and 11 hits.

But many Blue Jays fans were confident enough with a 10-4 lead to sing “Happy Birthday” to Bautista when he came to bat in the sixth. Bautista drove in a run in the eighth.

UP NEXT

The bookish Young, a Princeton grad, and Dickey, who has talked about his desire to be a teacher, were twice teammates, with Texas (2003-04) and the Mets (2011-12). Young hasn’t started since Oct. 2, but pitched in relief in Game 1 of the Division Series. Dickey was lifted with two outs in the fifth against Texas in the Division Series with Toronto leading by six runs.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ben Zobrist’s easy fly that somehow fell in for a hit began a five-run rally against David Price in the seventh inning, and the Kansas City Royals rolled to a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

Wade Davis survived a shaky ninth inning for Kansas City after Luke Hochevar and Danny Duffy were solid in relief of Yordano Ventura. Kelvin Herrera breezed through the eighth.

Davis gave up a leadoff single and walked pinch hitter Cliff Pennington but bounced back to strike out Ben Revere and MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Jose Bautista flied out to right to give Davis his third postseason save and the Royals another postseason comeback win.

“Our guys never quit. They keep going,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The Royals had been held to one hit by Price before stringing together four singles and a double in their go-ahead inning. They got run-producing hits from Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and Alex Rios, along with an RBI groundout from Kendrys Morales.

It was a monumental collapse for Price, who at one point had recorded 18 straight outs. He fell to 0-7 in seven postseason starts, including a loss to Texas in their AL Division Series.

Meanwhile, the reigning AL champs have won nine straight ALCS games dating to their memorable seven-game series against Toronto in 1985 — the year they won their only World Series. The record is 10 straight wins set by Baltimore in the 1960s and ’70s.

Now the Blue Jays head home for Game 3 on Monday night in dire trouble. All but three of the previous 25 teams to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven era have won the series — although Toronto did rally from the same hole to beat the Rangers in five games in the divisional round.

“You got to get a win under your belt,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “It won’t be easy, no doubt about that. But you get one win out of the way, it can turn things around in a hurry.”

For most of the afternoon, it appeared the Blue Jays would forge a 1-1 tie.

Ryan Goins drove in a run off Ventura in the third, snapping an 18-inning scoreless streak by Royals pitchers, and Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki had RBIs in the sixth.

The way Price was carving up the lineup, a 3-0 lead looked to be enough.

The only bad pitch he threw the first six innings was his first, which Escobar swatted for a leadoff single. Price threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of 14 batters at one point and struck out the side in the sixth inning, giving no indication he was about to implode.

“We just needed to catch a break,” Moustakas said. “Price was throwing the ball unbelievable. We got the early hit, and he was kind of cruising. We just needed to find a way to get a runner on base so we could do what we can, keep the line moving.”

The Royals finally got it thanks to a costly defensive lapse.

Zobrist sent a popup to shallow right field to start the seventh, and Goins gave chase from second base and Bautista from right field. Both wound up letting it drop for a single, and for the first time all game, a sellout crowd at Kauffman Stadium began to stir.

“I felt like we needed to catch a break,” Gordon said, “and Zobrist’s ball was it.”

Cain followed with a clean single to extend his postseason hit streak to 11 games, matching a franchise record. Hosmer’s single got the Royals on the board, and Morales added an RBI groundout up the middle before Moustakas came up. In a 2-for-25 slump and without an RBI this postseason, he pulled a tying double to right field to set the crowd of 40,357 into a frenzy.

Gordon’s double gave Kansas City the lead. Rios added another single off reliever Aaron Sanchez to close the book on Price, who was dinged for all five runs in one disastrous inning.

The last time he allowed five runs in an inning was May 8. The opponent: Kansas City.

The Royals tacked on another run off the Toronto relief corps in the eighth, but it was hardly necessary. Kansas City’s shutdown bullpen made certain the lead would stand up.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Edinson Volquez planned to pitch the Toronto Blue Jays inside in Game 1 of their American League Championship Series, just as he did during their contentious series earlier this season.

Then, after chatting with Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez, he changed his mind.

“We know they got a lot of pull hitters over there, and power hitters, and he told me, ‘How you feel pitching down and away?’ And I said, ‘I feel sexy tonight,'” Volquez recalled. “And he was like, ‘All right, we’re changing the plan right now. We’re pitching those guys away.'”

They never touched him all night.

Volquez combined with three relievers on a three-hitter, Perez hit a soaring home run off Toronto starter Marco Estrada, and Kansas City rolled to a 5-0 victory Friday to open the best-of-seven series.

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

Volquez (1-1) ramped up his fastball to 97 mph to slice through a potent Blue Jays offense, never allowing a runner past second base over six innings. His only trouble occurred when he walked the first two batters in the sixth, but he wiggled out of it without any damage.

The Royals’ bullpen finished off the club’s eighth consecutive ALCS victory.

“There was a lot of energy,” said Volquez, who had been 0-3 with an 8.76 ERA in three career postseason starts. “I don’t know. I was just making my pitches.”

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.

The Blue Jays’ three hits were their fewest ever in a postseason game. They were shut out five times in the regular season.

As if the outcome wasn’t bad enough for them, designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion 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.”

A source told ESPN’s Marly Rivera that Encarnacion received a shot to diminish swelling of the finger. Encarnación is “hopeful” he can play in Game 2.

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 favor tomorrow,” Toronto catcher Dioner Navararo said.

The teams entered the series with plenty of history.

To start with, the defending AL champs beat Toronto in the 1985 league championship series, then beat the St. Louis Cardinals for the Royals’ only World Series triumph. But far more recently were the tense, benches-clearing game that the teams played at Rogers Centre in August.

Volquez was right in the thick of things.

He kept pitching the Blue Jays inside, finally hitting Josh Donaldson with a fastball. Tensions escalated as the game went on, with Toronto reliever Aaron Sanchez returning the favor by hitting Escobar to trigger the first of two benches-clearing scuffles.

Afterward, Volquez said Donaldson was “crying like a baby” over his inside approach. And to nobody’s surprise, Donaldson was booed lustily by the Kansas City crowd on Friday night.

That was the only reason for the packed house to boo, though.

After squandering a scoring chance in the first inning, the Royals jumped ahead in the third. Alex Gordon led off with a double, Escobar sent an RBI double down the right-field line, and Cain’s two-out single helped Kansas City — so accustomed to playing from behind — to a 2-0 lead.

Perez added his third homer of the postseason on the first pitch he saw in the fourth, the cheering of the throaty, flag-waving crowd reaching a crescendo as it passed over the wall.

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

He did not allow a hit until his 56th pitch, when Chris Colabello chopped a single up the middle with two outs in the fourth. It snapped 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, and 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 — went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

“It is extremely important to win the opener,” Hosmer said. “There’s only so many crazy comebacks you can pull off in a postseason. It was nice to get out to a lead tonight.”

— Associated Press —