KC Royals Held Off By Troy Tulowitzki in 7-1 Loss

Troy Tulowitzki‘s three-run double in the 6th propelled the Blue Jays over the KC Royals — to send the series back to Kansas City.

Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada came out of the gates firing, striking out two of the first three Royals he faced for a shut down inning that ignited an already rowdy crowd.

Royals starter Edinson Volquez quickly quieted the crowd with a shutdown inning of his own, striking out one in his respective first frame, with his fastball touching 98 MPH on the Rogers Centre radar gun.

Despite the fast start for Volquez, the Blue Jays drew first blood, as Chris Colabello drove a 0-2 Volquez changeup over the fence in left-center field to put the Jays up 1-0.

The home run was the first of Colabello’s career on an 0-2 pitch and the first Volquez had surrendered on a changeup since July of last year.

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Meanwhile, Estrada continued to deal, firing three perfect innings before Alcides Escobar broke it up with a single in the top of the 4th.

The single was quickly negated, however, as Zobrist promptly grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

Through six innings, Estrada had faced the minimum on just 76 pitches.

As the Royals bats remained silent, Volquez found himself in some trouble in the bottom of the 6th inning, by walking Ben Revere and hitting Josh Donaldson.

Toronto loaded the bases after Jose Bautista walked, following a long at-bat that ended on a controversial non-strike call.

Not only did the pitch look like it caught the zone, but the Royals were not granted an appeal down to first base, when the replay showed that Bautista may have gone around.

Volquez walked Edwin Encarnacion on another questionable non-strike call to put the Blue Jays up 2-0.

Kelvin Herrera came into the game following the walk and, after a strike out of Colabello, Toronto busted the game open with a double into the left-center field gap, clearing the bases, and putting the Jays up 5-0.

Toronto added two more runs on Bautista and Kevin Pillar RBI doubles, with a Salvador Perez solo home run, the Royals only run of the night, sandwiched in between.

The series heads back to Kansas City with the Royals leading three games to two.

Next: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals, 7:00 P.M., Kauffman Stadium; Toronto SP TBD vs. Kansas City SP TBD

Next: Johnny Cueto's historically bad Start