James Shields was dealing for the Royals on Tuesday night. (photo/MLB)

James Shields was dealing for the Royals on Tuesday night. (photo/MLB)

“He commanded the plate about as well as you can. He handcuffed us all night,” said Rockies manager Walt Weiss of Royals starting pitcher James Shields, who struck out eight in a 5-1 victory over Colorado.

Shields threw 75 of his 98 pitches for strikes over seven innings as he was backed by a two-run homer from Lorenzo Cain and a solo homer from Salvador Perez. Shields reached the 1,500 mark for strikeouts in this game as well.

Shields struck out Troy Tulowitzki, who is hitting .395, for his sixth K of the night to reach the personal milestone. Just how good is this Colorado team when it comes to hitting? They lead the majors in numerous offensive categories including batting average, 301; on-base percentage, .349; runs, 230; and homers, 57.

Shields allowed just five singles and didn’t walk a batter, but after a long outing his last time out, he turned the game over to the bullpen in the eighth as Wade Davis and Aaron Crow closed it out, giving the pen a string of 17 straight scoreless innings.