Relive the crowning of the 2015 Royals: Here’s a flashback to ALCS Game 1

Five years ago this fall, the Kansas City Royals won their second World Series championship.

Fox Sports Kansas City is re-airing the Royals’ victories from that postseason this month. At 7 Monday night, May 11, it’s Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.

To help you relive the moments from that magical October, we’ve dug into our archives.

Below are original stories, front pages and photos that appeared in the Oct. 17, 2015 editions of The Kansas City Star, the day after the Royals beat Toronto 5-0 in the opening game of the series:

Royals’ Volquez silences Blue Jays, 5-0

Amid all the preseason gush-ing over Yordano Ventura’s virtues and the midseason hysteria over the acquisition of Johnny Cueto, through the backlash of frantic concerns about their slumps and the pendulum swinging back to their recent resurgence, Edinson Volquez all along has stood tall as the Royals’ most dependable starter.

As such, he unleashed his most dynamic performance of the season at the most meaningful time in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Friday at Kauffman Stadium, where he subdued the prolific attack of the Toronto Blue Jays to zero runs and two hits over six innings in the Royals’ 5-0 victory.

His tenacious 111-pitch effort was punctuated by a 37-heave sixth inning that started with two nine-pitch walks, suggesting it would be prudent for the Royals to move on to reliever Kelvin Herrera.

But with a little help from a sellout crowd chanting, “Ed-die, Ed-die,” it ended with Volquez inducing a flyout sandwiched by two strikeouts looking — the second of which included a 96 mph fastball on the 109th pitch against Troy Tulowitzki.

This from a man who usually maxes out between 93 and 94 mph.

“Adrenaline, I think,” Volquez told Fox reporter Ken Rosenthal after the game. “The fans were calling my name, chanting, ‘Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die!’”

All of which served to tame the Blue Jays and menacing sluggers like Josh Donaldson, whom Volquez called “a little baby” after their kerfuffle in Toronto on Aug. 2, and Jose Bautista, he of the celebrated macho bat flip on Tuesday against Texas.

Neither managed a hit against Volquez, who by holding Toronto hitless through the first three innings extended the Royals’ streak to 10 straight innings without allowing one — a run dating back to the second inning of Game 5 of the ALDS against Houston.

While Volquez had tried to douse any thoughts that there were lingering issues with Toronto, calling Donaldson a great hitter and saying it was time to move forward, he also let it be known he intended to attack inside.

And his churning effort reflected an aggressive mindset, whether it was stoked by the Blue Jays themselves, the tone-setting stakes of Game 1 or the combination of both.

Between that intensity and his charged secondary pitches, the effect was to leave the brawny, blustery Blue Jays off balance and muttering to themselves.

That was perhaps best exemplified by Bautista squawking at a called strike that froze him in the fourth and effectively pouting out the at-bat before striking out.

Beyond it being an end in itself, the Royals’ third straight postseason win was the latest indication that the largely volatile and worrisome starting pitching might be taking hold at last.

Cueto was tremendous in their last game, Game 5 of the ALDS, allowing just two runs and two hits against the Astros to propel the Royals into this series.

Ventura, excellent down the regular-season stretch, was good enough to keep a rally manageable in Game 4 of the ALDS. He surrendered three runs and struck out eight in a game the Royals won 9-6 after trailing 6-2 in the eighth.

And, of course, Volquez himself had largely performed well in Game 3, striking out eight and allowing three runs in 5.2 innings.

This fine span notwithstanding, it still was a reach from this to what manager Ned Yost seemed to be proposing before the game Friday.

“I kind of relate it back to the days when I was with the Atlanta Braves,” Yost said, “and you had (Greg) Maddux, (Tom) Glavine and (John) Smoltz.”

But Yost wasn’t comparing the Royals’ trio from the Dominican Republic to the triumvirate of Hall of Famers exactly.

He simply was referring to the way they motivate each other.

“One of those guys would have a big start, and the other ones would always have the mindset, ‘Well, I’m going to go out and do just as good or better than he did,’” Yost said. “It’s always kind of like an inner competition within the competition, because they are so close. They all want to continue to hold up their end and pitch good baseball games.

“What Johnny did the other day was huge for us, but I think Volqy thinks, ‘I want to go out and do the same thing.’”

In this particular case, sure.

But hidden in plain view, all season it’s been Volquez establishing the baseline for Ventura and Cueto.

Royals silence Jays’ sluggers, and now they need to do it again today

The moment found Jose Bautista, because of course it did. That’s what happens with baseball’s bat-flippingest, trash-talkingest slugger, the master of the home-run staredown who has made enemies around the American League.

So it came to be that he led off the fourth inning, Kauffman Stadium rocking again after the Royals had just taken the lead. This is a big stadium. Man has not created a stadium big enough to hold Bautista.

Edinson Volquez had to know this was a particularly important moment. The Royals have lamented, at times, their knack for taking a lead and then giving it right back.

Volquez threw a fastball on the outside corner. Bautista took it. Strike one. Bautista did not like the call.

Volquez threw another fastball on the outside corner, same spot. Bautista took it. Strike two, and this time, he threw his hands in the air and walked away from the plate. He was cooked.

Volquez threw a curveball. It split the plate, the kind of pitch Bautista has hammered over outfield walls hundreds of times in his career. He took it. Strike three. The crowd screamed.

The Blue Jays, baseball’s most powerful team, had been silenced. Bautista can change a game with one swing. Here, he did not even attempt one.

Baseball is never as simple as one play, or one idea, but that moment is as good as any to describe what eventually became the Royals’ 5-0 win over the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series at Kauffman Stadium on Friday. Game 2 is at 3:07 this afternoon, and particularly important, for reasons we’ll get to.

If you believe in messages, in intangibles, in the kind of thing that rips swagger from one side and throws it to the other, that was an important moment. The Royals — from the top of the front office to entire coaching staff to the bottom of the roster — believe in those things very much.

Seven-game playoff series can take wild and unpredictable turns. Last year, you remember, the Royals won Game 6 of the World Series 10-0. They lost Game 7 at home the next night.

But as far as one-game statements go, the Royals just made a clear one. In a series between two teams who’ve cleared benches and exchanged brush-backs and lobbed entertaining trash talk, the Royals are now in control. In a series that invites the tired and cliched comparison to a boxing match, the Royals struck the first blow.

And if they held the lead with some convenient symbolism, they took the lead with the same.

The energy started with Alcides Escobar, because of course it did.

That’s how these things seem to go as often as anything else. Baseball’s least-likely leadoff hitter swinging at the first pitch he sees, because of course he does.

The whole thing makes no sense, unless you accept “baseball” as the explanation. The Royals put one of the game’s least-patient hitters at the top of their order and, if anything, encourage him to swing earlier and more often than he would if left to his own devices. Somehow, it works. Ned Yost, the Royals’ manager who would just as soon stick sabermetrics at the bottom of a spit cup, does not even try to explain.

So it was that Escobar hit the first pitch he saw in the first inning down the left-field line for a double. You would think pitchers would know the drill by now. Throw one off the plate.

You would think they would adjust, but up came Escobar again in the third inning, and again Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada left one over the plate or at least too close, because Escobar leaned over and poked it down the right-field line.

Two pitches, two doubles.

This one scored the first run, and two batters later Escobar scored the second.

On the RBI double, the ball off Escobar’s bat was measured at 83 mph.

According to baseballsavant.com, big-leaguers hit just .215 on that contact quality. For Escobar, and for the Royals, it began the scoring in a playoff game.

It was an entirely fitting way for the Royals to begin: counterintuitive, unexplainable and undeniable.

This is a nice start to the series for the Royals, but that’s all it is. One of the many ways homefield advantage is overrated in baseball is that the 2-3-2 format helps shrink the advantage. If a road team can split the first two, it gets three in a row at home. That means taking control of the series by winning two, or even clinching with a sweep of the home games.

Baseball teams that win the first two games at home, according to WhoWins.com, win the World Series 81 percent of the time.

The Royals did well here, in other words. But they need to do it again today.

No noise from Jays: Volquez escapes sixth inning without any damage and turns it over to pen

Life on a tightrope must exhaust a man, so Edinson Volquez slowed his gait as he walked off the mound Friday night. He had just thrown 111 pitches, 37 of them in the sixth inning of a 5-0 Royals victory in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The crowd at Kauffman Stadium had chanted his name and would so do so again, and Volquez pointed to the masses and thumped his heart before he disappeared into the dugout.

Behind him, Toronto stars Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista trudged to their dugout. Volquez had walked both men starting the torturous sixth. After that, neither man advanced a step, watching as Volquez sneaked through the inning.

A different Royal rewarded manager Ned Yost for the same strategy two innings later. Yost sent Ryan Madson, who absorbed tremendous damage from the Blue Jays on multiple occasions in the regular season, to pitch the eighth after a dynamic, brief seventh inning from Kelvin Herrera. Madson gave up a single to Donaldson and walked Bautista but still escaped with a scoreless inning.

What guided Yost during those moments of crisis? Perhaps it was faith in his players, perhaps it was a belief in their fortitude. Perhaps it was inertia, the resistance to break from routine this early in a series. Volquez provided six scoreless innings, gave up two hits, walked four and struck out five. He expended himself in the process.

Alcides Escobar doubled in a run in the third and scored soon after. Salvador Perez popped his third homer of the postseason in the fourth. The strikes were quick and efficient, enough to let the Royals play, for the first time this postseason, from ahead. Eric Hosmer had an RBI double in the eighth, and Kendrys Morales added a sacrifice fly, enough to let Luke Hochevar close with a five-run lead.

Each run mattered, for the Blue Jays leave scant margin for error. They exhaust pitchers with their restraint. They embarrass them with their brawn. They wallop mistakes. They shatter the confidence of their foes.

During the second half of the season, Toronto decimated opponents and embarked on a run that included taking three of four from Kansas City during the first weekend of August. For weeks afterward, the Blue Jays stalked the Royals in the standings, running them down in the chase for homefield advantage, only to cough up the lead on the season’s penultimate day.

These two clubs nearly came to blows the last time they played. After staring at each other from afar thereafter, the first encounter lacked any fisticuffs or beanballs. There were no brawls. There was no controversy. The only jawing was one-sided, the chatter of Bautista at the umpire.

Yordano Ventura will duel with Toronto southpaw David Price this afternoon in Game 2. Ventura can hope he replicates the opening effort from Volquez, who quieted a bunch that does not often allow for silence.

The Royals proved last series, if any doubt lingered after 2014, how well they could absorb a punch.

Few opponents throw heavier blows than Toronto. The Blue Jays led the major leagues in runs, home runs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The heart of their order features three right-handed bombardiers: Donaldson, Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.

The weather benefited the hosts. Toronto rampaged into the playoffs on the back of their record inside the climate-controlled confines of Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays lost more games on the road than they won this season. The temperature dropped to 54 degrees at first pitch.

To suppress the Jays, the Royals handed the baseball to Volquez. He amped his fastball up to 97 mph during a scoreless first inning that still required 24 pitches. Volquez balanced that with a six-pitch second.

Escobar could not advance after a leadoff double in the first. Two innings later, he came to the plate with Alex Gordon at second base. Gordon had ended a nine-pitch clash with right-hander Marco Estrada by doubling on a fastball into right field.

Now Escobar ripped at a curveball from Estrada. The pitch bent down and away, perhaps a strike, perhaps not. Escobar flicked it into right for a run-scoring double. When Estrada fired a elevated fastball two at-bats later, Lorenzo Cain shuttled an RBI single into right.

Two days before, Bautista hit a towering home run to clinch a Game 5 ALDS comeback over Texas. He flung his bat skyward, exhilarating the crowd at Rogers Centre and sparking an industrywide debate on the ethics of bat flips. Bautista can generate attention with either the reverberations of his bat or the bark of his voice.

Around the game, Bautista carries a reputation for chirping at umpires. The strike zone of Tony Randazzo aggravated him in the fourth. On two consecutive pitches, Randazzao rewarded Volquez with a high strike on the outside corner. After the second, Bautista waved his arms and stomped out of the batter’s box. He returned in time to watch a curveball for strike three.

Perez came to the plate with two outs in the fourth. The previous two hitters had just struck out. Estrada fed Perez a 90-mph fastball at the belt. Perez made the baseball disappear over the left-field fence.

When the sixth inning rolled around, Volquez stood unchallenged. Yet on their third at-bats, neither Donaldson nor Bautista chased Volquez’s pitches. Donaldson drained Volquez with a nine-pitch walk. He missed sinkers up in the zone but declined to hack at off-speed pitches out of his reach.

Donaldson trotted to first. The bullpen phone rang. Herrera hopped up.

Bautista repeated the pattern. He could not punish Volquez for misplaced fastballs. Volquez abandoned the heater for his change-up. He missed on the ninth pitch of the plate appearance and put Bautista on.

A figure emerged from the Royals dugout. It was not Yost. It was pitching coach Dave Eiland. He spoke with Volquez and left to watch him face Encarnacion.

By now, each encounter felt like trench warfare. Volquez could not command his fastball, but Encarnacion fouled off two juicy ones. He stared at a third for a critical out. The two-seamer dived at the last moment to catch the outer edge of the zone.

Up came first baseman Chris Colabello, who owned one of the two hits against Volquez. Colabello ripped the eighth pitch he saw into left. Gordon caught it.

The midseason arrival of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki coincided with the revival of the Blue Jays. Now he arrived in this game’s moment of truth, only a month removed from a broken scapula that sidelined him in September.

Volquez elected to challenge the damaged star. He flung seven consecutive fastballs. The last clocked at 95 mph and hummed over the plate. Tulowitzki let it pass. The crowd erupted as Randazzo pumped his fist.

Sixth-inning survival caps superb night

The Blue Jays couldn’t make solid contact against Royals starter Edinson Volquez, so they tried to wait him out, hoping Volquez would beat himself.

The Blue Jays took pitches, fouled off fastballs, sinkers and change-ups. They held off on off-speed offerings in the dirt and didn’t bite on pitches in the upper half of the zone.

The plan seemed solid, especially in the sixth inning, when Volquez labored for 37 pitches.

But Volquez won this battle through the heart of the dangerous Blue Jays lineup, his final inning in the Royals’ 5-0 triumph Friday in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

Volquez had pitched masterfully through two turns of the Toronto lineup. The third time would mark his toughest challenge, with Josh Donaldson leading off.

A nine-pitch plate appearance ended in a walk. Jose Bautista used the same number of Volquez pitches for his base on balls.

Two on, none out and Volquez had lost two faceoffs. The Royals’ most consistent starter throughout the season was facing his biggest challenge of the game.

A wobbly Volquez regained his composure and struck out Edwin Encarnacion on four pitches, the punch-out coming on a 95-mph fastball.

On the seventh pitch to Chris Colabello the Blue Jays made their only solid contact. Colabello lined out to left fielder Alex Gordon.

The inning’s momentum had sifted back to Volquez, but he still had to contend with Troy Tulowitzki, who worked a full count. Tulowitzki fouled off one pitch, then watched a fastball sail by for the third strike.

Volquez pumped his fist as walked off the mound, knowing his night was finished. He had tossed 111 pitches, struck out five, walked four and had continued the Royals’ superb starting pitching that started with Johnny Cueto in the American League Division Series clincher against the Astros on Wednesday.

“He was pumped up and the ball was moving a lot,” the Blue Jays’ Ben Revere said. “I was surprised, but now it’s all about the playoffs and you’re going to get the best out of these pitchers. You have to be ready for it and hopefully we are tomorrow.”

Volquez turned the game over to the bullpen, and the Royals didn’t waver. Kelvin Herrera threw gas in the seventh inning, nine pitches, all in the strike zone, and two strikeouts.

Ryan Madson, who had been shaky during the regular season against the Blue Jays, who hit .600 against him, put two on. But Madson’s change-up got an off-balance swing from pinch hitter Justin Smoak, who popped out to first baseman Eric Hosmer. Smoak was hitting for Encarnacion, who left the game to get an X-ray on his middle finger on his left hand.

It was unclear how Encarnacion, who hit 39 home runs this season and has 151 over the last four years, had suffered the injury.

Madson then coaxed a ground ball from Colabello that turned into a fielder’s choice, keeping the Blue Jays off the board.

The ninth inning did not belong to closer Wade Davis. With the Royals holding a five-run lead, manager Ned Yost turned to Luke Hochevar. The shutout was preserved, and Volquez had his first win in four career postseason starts.

This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM.