TORONTO - Tensions were high, R.A. Dickey's knuckleball was low and the new-look Toronto Blue Jays appear ready to go up against the big boys in the American League.

Dickey threw seven masterful shutout innings, manager John Gibbons and reliever Aaron Sanchez were ejected and the Blue Jays' bats were popping in a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals in front of a sellout crowd Sunday at Rogers Centre.

Starting Dickey on short rest to push David Price's debut back to Monday was a risk for the Blue Jays but one that the right-handed knuckleballer made look brilliant. Dickey allowed just two hits, struck out six and allowed no baserunners past second to extend his streak of consecutive innings without an earned run to 20 2/3.

Dickey entered with a 7.23 earned-run average in seven career starts on short rest, with opponents batting .344. He made that history moot against giving the Blue Jays (54-52) the shutout innings they needed against the Royals (62-42) to capture the series and keep pace in the AL playoff hunt.

Chris Collabello hit a two-run home run, and Jose Bautista, Ben Revere and Troy Tulowitzki each drove in one to give Dickey and the bullpen the necessary run support.

But it was the hit batters that caused heated arguments throughout, including a fracas late in the game. Gibbons said it was too early to wonder about a playoff series between his Blue Jays and the Royals, but Sunday's extracurricular activities added some more spice to that possibility.

That began in the first when Royals starter Edinson Volquez drilled Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson square in the back with a 94 m.p.h. sinker. Donaldson entered the day 6 for 15 with two home runs and seven RBI against Kansas City pitching in the series.

Unhappy about getting plunked, Donaldson had some words with Volquez on the way to first as home-place umpire Jim Wolf warned the teams. Donaldson was upset when another pitch buzzed him in the third inning, but Wolf did not eject Volquez.

Tensions simmered into the seventh when Madson hit Tulowitzki in the right forearm. Up next, Donaldson was livid when he got another pitch high and inside, and Gibbons ran onto the field to get in Wolf's face.

Gibbons was ejected for the third time this season, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd of 45,736. Bautista's RBI double followed, but so did more madness.

When Blue Jays reliever Aaron Sanchez took the mound for the eighth, Wolf had some words for him. Sanchez got two outs, and when he hit Alcides Escobar, Wolf ejected the right-hander.

That set off a bench-clearing fracas led by Donaldson, Gibbons and Volquez. No punches were thrown, and when order was restored Royals left fielder Ben Zobrist hit a two-run home run off Roberto Osuna to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 3-2.

It was Zobrist's third home run in two games.

In the eighth, Revere drove in his first run since joining the Blue Jays, and Tulowitzki added another on an RBI single. Osuna picked up the save.

Note: Donaldson was named the Blue Jays' player of the month of July after hitting .287 with seven homers and 24 RBI.