Kansas City Royals Suffer Offense And Defense Outages In Loss To Minnesota Twins

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy (41) Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The offense for the Kansas City Royals (4-6) continues to be missing in action, and two second inning errors led to six runs in the Royals 7-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins (5-6). Little is going the Royals was right now.

On the Mound

James Shields only allowed 1 earned run in his 5.2 innings on Saturday. Unfortunately, two errors, on by Shields himself led directly to 6 unearned runs. Shields allowed just hits but he walked three, and struck out 5 on the day. He labored through the disastrous second, and gamely pitch into the sixth in a effort to save the bullpen.

Danny Duffy, called up to reinforce the bullpen, pitched 2.1 perfect innings to finish out the blow-out, including 3 strikeouts.

At the Plate

The Royals could only muster 6 hits on the day, 5 of which  were doubles, but could only push 1 run across the plate.

Alex Gordon had 2 hits, both doubles, and Alcides Escobar provided to more base knocks. Billy Butler took the collar, and his average fell to .171. Mike Moustakas‘ average dropped to .091 on the season.

This and That

The Royals can no longer use the weak excuse that they weren’t scoring due to the quality of the opposing pitchers. No one is going to confuse Kyle Gibson or Ricky Nolasco for Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer.

It is appearing more and more likely that the Royals mistook an outlier statistical seasons Billy Butler (2012) as something that was repeatable. That season is looking more and more like an anomaly. While it is certain he will eventually turn these around to an extent, his inability to hit the ball in the air on a regular basis is going to plague is career.

Kansas City sent Johnny Giavotella back down to AAA to make room for Danny Duffy. Once again, the Royals are without a back up middle infielder on the roster. One thing can be said about the people who run this franchise – they are consistently stubborn about doing the wrong thing.

If you are hitting .091 on the season, you had better not be allowing double play ground balls to go between your legs with the bases loaded.

The Royals are 2-20 in this series with runners in scoring position.

It is worrisome that the Royals still do not know what to do with Duffy. Is he a starter or is he a reliever? Make up your mind.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

It is a sad state of affairs when the best performance of the day goes to a middle reliever. Danny Duffy was perfect for 2.1 innings, striking out 3 of the 7 batters he faced.

•  Salvador Perez
• Jason Vargas – 2
• Alex Gordon – 2
• Bruce Chen
• James Shields
• Yordano Ventura
• Mike Moustakas
• Danny Duffy

The Twins

Ricky Nolasco started the game with a 9.00 ERA, and after 8 innings, finished with a 5.50 ERA. He surrendered just 5 hits and a walk, while striking out 4.

Brian Dozier hit his 4th (yes, 4 times as many as the Kansas City Royals) on the season. Joe Mauer connected on his first of the season.

Up Next

The Royals try to regain some sense of competitive dignity Sunday at 1:10 Central when Jason Vargas (1-0, 1.20 ERA) takes the bump for Kansas City. Kevin Correia (0-1, 6.17 ERA) will go for the Twins.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

2B: A Escobar (2, off R Nolasco); S Perez (5, off R Nolasco); L Cain (1, off R Nolasco); A Gordon 2 (4, 1 off R Nolasco, 1 off M Tonkin).

TB: A Gordon 4; A Escobar 3; S Perez 2; L Cain 2.

RBI: L Cain (4).

2-out RBI: L Cain.

Team LOB: 6.

With RISP: 2 for 11.

Fielding

E: M Moustakas (2); J Shields (1).

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HR: J Mauer (1, off J Shields; 2nd inn, 2 on, 1 out to Deep CF-RF); B Dozier (4, off J Shields; 1st inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF).

TB: J Mauer 5; B Dozier 4; J Kubel; J Pinto; A Hicks.

RBI: J Mauer 3 (4); B Dozier 2 (6); A Hicks (3).

Team LOB: 4.

With RISP: 1 for 5.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Balks: None.

WP: None.

HBP: None.

IBB: None.

Pickoffs: None.