Danny Duffy blanks Cards in Kansas City Royals Win
By John Viril
Shelby Miller of the Cardinals and Danny Duffy of the Royals swapped zeros for six innings, until Kansas City broke through for 3 runs in the 7th on the way to a 6-0 win in Busch Stadium in St. Louis Monday night.
Kansas City’s late rally made a winner of Danny Duffy, who shut down the Cardinals five days after his worst start of the season.
The win pulls Kansas City within 3 games of .500 at 27-30. The Royals now trail Detroit by 6 games in the American League Central. The win also pulled the Royals out of the cellar and moved them into 4th place.
On the Mound
Duffy complained of a “dead arm” in his last start, with a fastball that only hit the low 90’s instead of his normal mid-90’s Duffy still said he did not have as much as he was used to on the ball, but he still was effective. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and 0 earned runs with 5 strikeouts.
Duffy’s season record goes to 3-5 with the win, along with an ERA of 3.05.
Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Aaron Crow followed with 3 scoreless innings of relief. Each reliever allowed 1 baserunner: Herrera and Crow allowed singles, while Wade Davis walked a batter.
At the Plate
Overall, the Royals got 9 hits and 2 walks on the night.
Gordon’s home run and Moustakas’ double were the only extra-base hits on the night (including the Cardinals).
Salvador Perez was 3-4, with 2 runs scored, and 2 RBI’s on three singles, including a key blow that ended up scoring 2 runs in the 8th on rookie centerfielder Randal Grichuk‘s error.
Alex Gordon started the scoring with his 7th inning home run. Gordon went 1-3, with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, and 1 walk.
The only other Royal to get on base more than once was 2B Omar Infante, who went 1-3, with 1 run scored and 1 walk.
This and That
The Royals helped out their pitching staff with some outstanding defense, including a diving stop by Omar Infante at second, and a double play for Aaron Crow in the 9th.
KC Kingdom Player of the Game
Danny Duffy is the obvious choice. You generally get player of the game when you hold the opposing team to 2 total baserunners and one hit over six innings.
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- Billy Butler – 2
- Lorenzo Cain – 2
- Johnny Giavotella
- Wade Davis
- Norichika Aoki
- Salvador Perez – 2
- Jeremy Guthrie – 5
- Jason Vargas – 5
- Alex Gordon – 5
- Bruce Chen
- James Shields – 5
- Yordano Ventura – 3
- Mike Moustakas
- Danny Duffy – 4
- Omar Infante – 2
- Mike Moustakas – 3
- Alcidese Escobar – 3
- Eric Hosmer – 6
- Michael Mariot
- Casey Coleman
- Danny Valencia
- Tim Collins
The Cardinals
Ryan Grichuk had a rough day at the ballpark. Along with his error in the 8th inning, Grichuk struck out 3 times against Danny Duffy until he managed a single off Aaron Crow in the 9th.
Matt Holliday was the only Cardinal to reach base off Duffy with his 1-out single in the 2nd and the only walk in the 4th. Holliday added another single in the 7th off Kelvin Herrera.
Up Next
The Cardinals and Royals continue their 4-game series in St. Louis on Tuesday. The Royal will send ace James Shields (6-3, 3.36 ERA) to the mound against Jaime Garcia (1-0, 4.12 ERA). Game time is 6:15 CST at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Box
| Royals Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS | Pit | Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nori Aoki RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .259 | .633 | 11 | 10 |
| Kelvin Herrera P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Wade Davis P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Pedro Ciriaco PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .244 | .555 | 1 | 1 |
| Aaron Crow P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Omar Infante 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .257 | .680 | 14 | 9 |
| Eric Hosmer 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .266 | .670 | 12 | 11 |
| Alex Gordon LF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .277 | .769 | 18 | 8 |
| Salvador Perez C | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .265 | .736 | 14 | 10 |
| Lorenzo Cain CF-RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .328 | .796 | 15 | 9 |
| Mike Moustakas 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .152 | .537 | 11 | 8 |
| Alcides Escobar SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .265 | .673 | 13 | 8 |
| Danny Duffy P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 5 | 3 |
| Billy Butler PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .248 | .606 | 1 | 1 |
| Jarrod Dyson CF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .297 | .685 | 3 | 2 |
| Team Totals | 34 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | .265 | .680 | 118 | 80 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
2B: M Moustakas (8, off S Miller).
HR: A Gordon (5, off S Miller, 7th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep CF-RF).
SF: L Cain (2, off J Motte).
TB: A Gordon 4; S Perez 3; M Moustakas 2; L Cain; O Infante; J Dyson; A Escobar.
GIDP: L Cain (3); P Ciriaco (2).
RBI: M Moustakas 2 (19); S Perez (14); A Gordon (30); L Cain (20).
Team LOB: 4.
With RISP: 3 for 7.
Fielding
DP: 1. A Escobar-O Infante-E Hosmer.
| Cardinals Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Carpenter 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .286 | .740 |
| Randal Grichuk CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .167 | .485 |
| Matt Holliday LF | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .276 | .757 |
| Allen Craig 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .248 | .695 |
| Yadier Molina C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .305 | .790 |
| Jhonny Peralta SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .229 | .730 |
| Jason Motte P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sam Freeman P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Oscar Taveras RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 | .700 |
| Mark Ellis 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .165 | .451 |
| Shelby Miller P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .130 | .384 |
| Randy Choate P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Daniel Descalso SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .446 |
| Team Totals | 29 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | .103 | .265 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
TB: M Holliday 2; R Grichuk.
GIDP: M Holliday (6).
Team LOB: 4.
With RISP: 0 for 3.
Fielding
DP: 2. D Descalso-M Ellis-A Craig; M Carpenter-M Ellis-A Craig.
E: R Grichuk (1); J Peralta (6).
| Royals Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | Pit | Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny Duffy, W (3-5) | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3.05 | 85 | 55 |
| Kelvin Herrera, H (3) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.61 | 14 | 10 |
| Wade Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.42 | 20 | 10 |
| Aaron Crow | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.92 | 12 | 6 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0.00 | 131 | 81 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
| Cardinals Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | Pit | Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby Miller, L (6-5) | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4.06 | 95 | 64 |
| Randy Choate | 0.1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.16 | 9 | 5 |
| Jason Motte | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.35 | 8 | 6 |
| Sam Freeman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 6 | 5 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5.00 | 118 | 80 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
S Miller faced 1 batter in the 8th inning.
Balks: None.
WP: D Duffy (2); S Miller 2 (3).
HBP: None.
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.