KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Like waiting on the porch for the mail to arrive, the Kansas City Royals' bullpen has gotten into the habit of pulling up a chair and anticipating the delivery of goods that will eventually arrive.

It went down again in the American League Championship Series on Saturday, just as it did at Houston on Monday in the division series and the way it went down in last year’s wild-card game against Oakland.

The Royals cobbled together another high-stakes rally, scoring five runs in the seventh inning to pull off a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the ALCS when time was running out and hope was fading.

That's the thing with these Royals, though. Hope fades later for them than it does for most others, and the bullpen knows to leave a light on for when it does finally arrive.

"You never doubt our team, never, ever doubt our team," said left-hander Danny Duffy, who authored a scoreless seventh inning to set up the Royals' five-run rally. "It's crazy. It's a lot of fun to watch. From afar, I'm out there 430 feet away in the pen and it's cool to see from that point of view, especially everybody going crazy. Just the amount of focus that is involved it's impressive."

Between the Royals' offense and the team's bullpen there is a mutual-admiration society that has formed. The bullpen knows those runs are coming and the offense knows that once they score them, a victory is all but assured.

"There is a lot of confidence [in the bullpen]," Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. "These guys have been doing it for a long time now. You know when you have a lead and hand it off to those guys, you have a lot of confidence. ... They bear down and get the job done. That's what they do."

The bullpen entered the fray a little earlier than normal in this one after starter Yordano Ventura was pulled from the game after 5⅓ innings. The Blue Jays had just scored two runs to take a 3-0 lead and were still in business with one out and the bases loaded.

The first call went to right-hander Luke Hochevar, who had just finished off Friday night's 5-0 victory with a scoreless ninth inning. His damage control came in the form of a popup from Kevin Pillar and a groundout from Ryan Goins, the duo that hit back-to-back doubles in the third inning for the Blue Jays' first run.

Hochevar turned it over in the seventh to Duffy, who first got Ben Revere on a groundout and then adeptly handled the duo of Josh Donaldson (fly out) and Jose Bautista (strikeout).

Kelvin Herrera gave up a hit in a scoreless eighth, and closer Wade Davis worked his way around a hit and a walk for a scoreless ninth and a 2-0 series victory.

"It's fun to be a part of this bullpen," Herrera said. "We're trying to do our job individually but at the end of the day it's about the result of the team if we do our job."

Making the effort of the bullpen even more impressive is the fact All-Star closer Greg Holland was lost for the season because of an elbow injury that required Tommy Johnson surgery. So instead of a final three composed of Herrera, Davis and Holland, it now goes from Herrera to Ryan Madson to Davis, although Madson was avoided Saturday after throwing 18 pitches in a scoreless inning Friday.

"With those three guys down there you just feed off that; it gets contagious," Hochevar said. "It really started with Greg three years ago and him taking the bull by the horns down there and going out and doing what he did. And then it just started a trickle effect. Now granted, you have some very talented arms, especially with those three guys at the back end, but it just kind of blends together for sure."

The bullpen continues to be so strong that manager Ned Yost can go to his relievers at the first sign of trouble from the starter to keep the score within striking distance. It was patented Royals baseball Saturday as the bullpen limited the damage, the offense rallied and the late-inning arms closed it down.

"There's two or three things that you can look at that really helped us win that game, and [Hochevar's] contribution was one of them," Yost said. "They're a hit away from breaking that game open at that point, 5-0. If it's 3-0, you still feel you've got a shot to mount an attack, but 5-0 is a little more daunting, because now you've got to score six to win."

Even Duffy said his victory really does belong to Hochevar.

As the series now shifts to Toronto, the Royals will be without their crowd that seems to will the club to rallies. But as the Royals showed in the ALDS at Houston, they can mount an attack on the road, too.

"What we learned from last year's run in the playoffs is that you just have to keep it simple," Duffy said. "No matter what is going on, all the extras, all the stuff that doesn't have anything to do with you executing, no matter what side of the ball you're on, you don't need to address it. Just stay locked in and that's what these boys do. It's just a ton of fun to watch. I'm happy just to be a small part of it."