ARLINGTON, Texas -- Before this American League Division Series rematch began, much of the talk was about the loud, fierce rivalry that developed between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers last year. Jose Bautista's notorious bat flip in last October’s division clincher. His hard slide into Rougned Odor followed by the second baseman punching him in the face this May. All the emotion and bad blood and the effect it would have on the series and the fans.

With all that hype, ear plugs might have been in order when taking the field. Or boxing gloves rather than batting gloves.

Game 1, however, was nothing like that, as Toronto starter Marco Estrada utterly silenced both the Texas bats and the Rangers’ sellout crowd in a near-shutout performance Thursday. The Blue Jays’ bats, meanwhile, roughed up experienced postseason starter Cole Hamels with seven runs in the first four innings to ease the tension and drama significantly in an eventual 10-1 rout.

“When you’re on the road, that’s what you want to do -- quiet the fans, and I think we did a pretty good job," Estrada said. “Obviously, we don’t want any momentum on their side, and scoring seven runs by the fourth inning, that’s going to keep a lot of people quiet."

Oh, there was some noise early on, particularly when Bautista was introduced before the game (loud boos) and again when he batted in the first inning (even louder boos). But then Bautista singled home a run in the Blue Jays’ five-run third inning against Hamels to lower the decibel level of the crowd. And he did so again with a three-run homer in the ninth inning when many of the fans had already left the building.

“I wanted to avoid all the questions about the whole ordeal, because we’re baseball players, not UFC fighters, and we come here to play ballgames," Bautista said. “That’s why I wanted everyone to focus on that in the clubhouse."

Meanwhile, Estrada was clearly well-focused on making the Rangers walk away from the plate with their heads down and their mouths shut. He allowed one run, four hits and struck out six in 8⅓ innings.

Estrada had a solid first half this season, going 5-3 with a 2.93 ERA and holding batters to a .173 average to make his first All-Star Game. He had a rougher second half, with a 4.27 ERA and opponents batting .243 against him. He did pitch well in his final three starts, though, allowing just two runs, when Toronto pretty much faced crucial games day after day.

He also had come up big in last year’s postseason, winning two must-win games, including Game 3 of the division series. With Toronto down two games to none, Estrada kept the Blue Jays alive by holding the Rangers to one run in 6⅓ innings in a 5-1 victory. He did even better Thursday, holding them scoreless for eight innings while facing just one batter more than the minimum before giving up his lone run in the ninth.

Manager John Gibbons credits Estrada’s postseason success to his calm mental and emotional approach in big games.

“I think he’s a confident, relaxed guy and probably as good as any pitcher I’ve ever had in that crunch time," Gibbons said. “He gets in those jams and he’s Houdini. ... A lot of that is belief and he doesn’t get rattled."

His changeup and control also helped. Estrada retired 13 batters with his changeup and was consistently ahead of hitters. Only seven of his 98 pitches came when he was behind in the count.

“The changeup was a really good pitch today," Estrada said. “I was getting a lot of swings and misses on it. But I think the most important thing was just getting ahead in the count. That makes pitching a little easier."

“It’s not just the changeup. It’s the constant change of speeds and the location," center fielder Kevin Pillar said. “He doesn’t miss much over the plate. He lives on the edges."

"When you're on the road, that's what you want to do -- quiet the fans, and I think we did a pretty good job. Obviously, we don't want any momentum on their side and scoring seven runs by the fourth inning, that's going to keep a lot of people quiet." Marco Estrada

Estrada has never pitched a complete game in his career, nor did any Toronto pitcher this season. He came close, though, before giving up a run on a triple and a ground out in the ninth inning, and then giving way to the bullpen. “Two outs from finishing it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t," he said. “But who cares? We won. That’s all that matters."

Hopefully, the negative emotions won’t matter, either. While last season’s monumental bat flip caused quite the ruckus, this time Bautista very gently laid his bat on the ground after his ninth-inning home run. Was that done purposely after what resulted from last year’s flip?

“Well, I think I have a couple home runs in my career and I think I’ve only flipped it once. So most of the time I do that," Bautista said. “It was just kind of been blown out of proportion last year, so I don’t think there was anything too special about laying it down the way I did."

Despite the blowout victory, the Blue Jays know not to get too confident. After all, they lost the first two games of last year’s division series at home but were able to come back and win. So they will look for 20-game winner J.A. Happ to silence the bats as Estrada did, while they try to beat up Rangers starter Yu Darvish and keep the Texas crowd quiet again.

“This wasn’t another day at the office," Pillar said. “We’ve got the best fans in the world cheering for us [in Toronto], but to come here, it’s nothing that we’re not used to. We thrive on their negativity toward us and it’s nice to get out to an early lead and keep them out of it. They’re a passionate group, too.

“You want to enjoy this, but you understand it’s a series and it’s just one game. And like in all sports, the scoreboard starts at zero tomorrow."