TORONTO -- With the Blue Jays banging home runs all weekend, the Royals' plan of attack in Sunday's 5-2 loss was to pitch more inside, which is exactly what right-hander Edinson Volquez did.

Volquez's pitch to Josh Donaldson in the first inning got too far inside and hit him. Both benches were warned, and that was just a prelude to a day full of tension, especially between Volquez and Donaldson.

In Donaldson's next at-bat, a changeup from Volquez got away and nearly hit Donaldson, who reacted angrily. Donaldson got buzzed again in the seventh by Ryan Madson, and once more began barking at home-plate umpire Jim Wolf and the Royals' bench.

All of this seemed perplexing to Volquez, perhaps even more so than a loss to the Jays.

"He was crying like a baby," Volquez said of Donaldson. "I'm pretty sure Ryan wasn't trying to hit him. He's got two runners on, runners on first and third, he's not trying to hit him. He's just trying to pitch inside and get a ground ball.

"He started screaming to the umpire ... we don't play that game. We got the best bullpen in baseball. We know how to get out of jams.

"We started pitching inside and he started crying."

Donaldson seemed to wonder why Volquez wasn't thrown out of the game early on, but apparently was glad he wasn't.

"I thought he was pretty good hittin', so I didn't want him out of there," Donaldson said.

Actually, Donaldson didn't get any hits off Volquez and the Blue Jays got just four hits and two runs through his six innings.

"I don't care," Volquez said of Donaldson's opinion. "I have to pitch inside. If they get mad, I don't care. He can't take it. I don't know why.
"They hit a lot of homers the first three games. So we came inside. You got to take it."

When the benches cleared after Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar was hit by a pitch in the eighth, Volquez got angry and appeared to be searching for Donaldson in the scrum.

"We all knew they were going to hit one of us," Volquez said. "But in the first inning when I hit him, he asked me, 'You good?' I said, 'Yeah. You good?' He said 'Yeah.' Then Ryan comes inside and he gets upset like he's Barry Bonds. He's not Barry Bonds. He's been three years in the league."

Volquez also couldn't understand why Donaldson was upset with a pitch inside in the third inning.

"The ball never hit him," Volquez said. "He started screaming to the umpire, screaming to our dugout, a lot of bad words.
"I told him, 'Hey, that was a changeup. If I want to hit you, I'll hit you with a fastball.'"

Volquez finished the day with his 12th quality start of the season and his fourth straight -- six innings, four hits, two runs, three walks and four strikeouts.

"I thought I pitched pretty good," he said.