TORONTO - Marco Estrada wasn't at all distracted by the Blue Jays acquisition of David Price when he took the mound on Thursday night.
He didn't even know about it until he got to the park that afternoon.
"I don't really read anything the day I pitch, I just kind of relax at home so I had no idea until I got here," Estrada said after pitching 5 2/3 effective innings to help Toronto to a 5-2 victory over the American League best Kansas City Royals.
"They had the TV on and it showed that we picked up David Price and it's a big boost. I didn't really think about it. ... but I'm extremely excited to have a guy like that on this team."
Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin and Dioner Navarro each hit home runs and Jose Bautista hit a sacrifice fly for the Blue Jays (52-51), hours after the team drastically improved its starting rotation by acquiring Price from Detroit in exchange for a trio of pitching prospects.
The move, which came at the expense of losing top prospect Daniel Norris, took place two days after GM Alex Anthopoulos added shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and 42-year-old reliever LaTroy Hawkins from Colorado.
"It's exciting, man," Navarro said of the mood in the clubhouse. "You get all-stars in Tulowitzki and Price and it doesn't get any better than that.
"They've been doing a great job in the front office and we're excited with what we've got."
Estrada (8-6), who gave up two runs on three hits while fanning three, enjoyed a radically different outing from his last start, in which he lasted just four innings in a loss to Seattle.
The right-hander said he slowed down his delivery "just a tad" against the Royals. His only real blemish came in the first inning, when he gave up two runs on a double to Kendrys Morales.
"Even in the first I thought I made some decent pitches," Estrada said. "With the double to Morales, I threw him a pretty good change-up. I thought it was down, it almost hit the ground and he smoked it for a double. He's a good hitter. ...
"After that I just kept doing the same thing over and over and it started going my way but I don't think much changed from the first inning on."
Estrada had retired 15 straight batters following Morales' double in the first and left the game after giving up a two-out single in the sixth. Brett Cecil finished the inning with a ground out.
Hawkins, in his second appearance for Toronto, gave up back-to-back two-out singles in the seventh before striking out Jarrod Dyson. Aaron Sanchez worked a scoreless eighth and Roberto Osuna pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said he's glad to have his bullpen shaping up the way he envisioned it.
"It makes it easier on the manager, that's for sure," he said with a chuckle.
Lefty Danny Duffy (4-5) gave up five runs over six innings for the Royals (61-40).
"I just didn't make pitches when I needed to," Duffy said. "They capitalized excellently on every single one of my mistakes."
Kansas City tried to squash the euphoria of the Price trade early, scoring twice in the first inning.
But Bautista got one back for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the frame with a sac fly, plating Tulowitzki from third base.
Navarro's home run made it 3-2 for Toronto in the second inning. Kevin Pillar led off with a bloop single to right before Navarro crushed a 2-1 offering from Duffy into the left-field seats.
"I knew I needed to be aggressive," Navarro said. "I'm just trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get. I think it was a big part of the game but solid work by Estrada was the No. 1 thing."
Martin extended the lead to 4-2 with a solo homer in the third and Donaldson added another run in the fourth with a monster shot to the second-deck seats in left field.
NOTES: Toronto continues its four-game series against Kansas City on Friday night. RHP Drew Hutchison (9-2, 5.42 earned-run average) will start for the Blue Jays while RHP Johnny Cueto (7-6, 2.62 ERA) is expected to make his Royals debut.
