Kansas City Royals Squander Danny Duffy’s Strong Start
By John Viril

In a refrain that is becoming all too common this season, the Kansas City Royals waste a strong start from Danny Duffy in their 2-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park Saturday night.
Duffy lost his 10th game of the season, against 5 victories, despite an outstanding 2.66 ERA. Duffy’s record says nothing about his quality as a starter this season. Instead, it’s an indictment of the run support he’s received from his teammates.
The Royals offense is a joke.
The loss drops Kansas City to .500 on the season. The Royals have now squandered two straight opportunities to gain ground on Detroit, who has lost two straight games to open the 2nd half. The Royals remain 6.5 games behind the Tigers in the American League Central.
On the Mound
Danny Duffy pitched 6.2 strong inning, allowing 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 runs (only 1 earned) with 2 strikeouts. Really, what more is Duffy supposed to do? The Red Sox dinged Duffy for a run in the 4th inning when Alcides Escobar allowed Shane Victorino‘s ground ball go through his legs for an error rather than what should have been an inning-ending double play. Duffy’s only mistake came in the 6th inning when he allowed a 1-out homer to Mike Napoli (11).
Jason Frasor entered in the 7th inning to record the final out in a one batter appearance.
Wade Davis pitched a scoreless inning in the 8th.
At the Plate
The Royals could do little with Red Sox starter Rubby De La Rosa, who earned his 3rd win of the season. The Royals managed only 5 hits, 4 walks and 1 run against the young right-hander.
No Royal had more than 1 hit on the night.
Jarrod Dyson had the best game, going 1-3 with a triple, 1 run scored, and 1 walk. Dyson led off the 3rd inning with a triple and scored on Omar Infante‘s sacrifice fly to center. That finished the scoring for KC.
Disgusting.
Along with his sacrifice fly, Omar Infante hit a double. Infante went 1-3 on the night, with the team’s only RBI.
This and That
Jarrod Dyson made what turned out to be a critical error in the first inning after leading off the game with a walk. Omar Infante followed with a line drive to second, and Dyson got picked off first for a double play.
Eric Hosmer followed with a single, which extended his career-long hitting streak to 15 games.
The Royals have scored a grand total of 4 runs in Duffy’s last 5 losses.
KC Kingdom Player of the Game
The only choice is Danny Duffy, who pitched well enough to win despite being betrayed both by the Royals offense and defense.
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- Billy Butler – 2
- Danny Valencia
- Christian Colon
- Raul Ibanez
- Jarrod Dyson – 2
- Lorenzo Cain – 6
- Johnny Giavotella
- Wade Davis
- Norichika Aoki
- Salvador Perez – 6
- Jeremy Guthrie – 5
- Jason Vargas – 6
- Alex Gordon – 9
- Bruce Chen
- James Shields – 8
- Yordano Ventura – 4
- Mike Moustakas
- Danny Duffy – 7
- Omar Infante – 4
- Mike Moustakas – 5
- Alcides Escobar – 5
- Eric Hosmer – 12
- Michael Mariot
The Red Sox
Mike Napoli struck the game changing blow in the 6th inning with his solo home run over the Green Monster. Napoli went 2-3 on the day, with a single, home run (11), 1 run scored and 1 RBI.
Up Next
The Royals finish their series with the Red Sox Sunday afternoon. Kansas City will send Yordano Ventura (7-7, 3.22 ERA) to the mound against Jon Lester for the Red Sox (9-7, 2.65). Game time is 12:35 PM CST at Fenway Park in Boston.
Box
Royals Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA ▾ | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Pit | Str |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jarrod Dyson CF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .294 | .351 | .353 | .704 | 16 | 8 |
Omar Infante 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .282 | .321 | .395 | .715 | 11 | 8 |
Eric Hosmer 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .272 | .318 | .386 | .704 | 11 | 9 |
Salvador Perez C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .282 | .327 | .432 | .759 | 13 | 10 |
Alex Gordon LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .271 | .351 | .425 | .776 | 20 | 9 |
Billy Butler DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .272 | .323 | .352 | .675 | 12 | 7 |
Mike Moustakas 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .186 | .253 | .360 | .613 | 15 | 9 |
Nori Aoki RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .258 | .327 | .319 | .646 | 12 | 5 |
Alcides Escobar SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .277 | .314 | .378 | .691 | 13 | 7 |
Raul Ibanez PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .149 | .236 | .254 | .489 | 3 | 2 |
Danny Duffy P | |||||||||||||
Team Totals | 30 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 35 | .167 | .257 | .267 | .524 | 126 | 74 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
2B: O Infante (12, off R De La Rosa).
3B: J Dyson (3, off R De La Rosa).
SF: O Infante (5, off R De La Rosa).
TB: J Dyson 3; O Infante 2; B Butler; A Gordon; E Hosmer.
GIDP: B Butler (14).
RBI: O Infante (47).
Team LOB: 7.
With RISP: 0 for 5.
Fielding
DP: 1. A Escobar-O Infante-E Hosmer.
E: A Escobar (9).
Red Sox Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Pit | Str |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brock Holt SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .325 | .369 | .457 | .826 | 20 | 12 |
Dustin Pedroia 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .277 | .344 | .376 | .720 | 16 | 9 |
David Ortiz DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .252 | .352 | .481 | .834 | 12 | 8 |
Mike Napoli 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .274 | .395 | .445 | .840 | 16 | 9 |
Jonny Gomes LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .238 | .333 | .368 | .701 | 14 | 7 |
Shane Victorino RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .245 | .277 | .351 | .628 | 10 | 7 |
Xander Bogaerts 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .234 | .310 | .353 | .663 | 7 | 6 |
Jackie Bradley CF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .227 | .303 | .309 | .613 | 8 | 5 |
Christian Vazquez C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .385 | .400 | .615 | 1.015 | 10 | 5 |
Team Totals | 29 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 32 | .207 | .281 | .310 | .592 | 113 | 68 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
HR: M Napoli (11, off D Duffy, 6th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep LF).
TB: M Napoli 5; S Victorino; J Bradley; B Holt; J Gomes.
GIDP: B Holt (3).
RBI: M Napoli (35).
Team LOB: 6.
With RISP: 0 for 6.
Fielding
DP: 2. J Bradley-M Napoli; B Holt-D Pedroia-M Napoli.
E: J Gomes (3).
Outfield Assists: J Bradley (J Dyson at 2nd base).
Royals Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | Pit | Str |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Danny Duffy, L (5-10) | 6.2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2.66 | 97 | 57 |
Jason Frasor | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.30 | 3 | 2 |
Wade Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.11 | 13 | 9 |
Team Totals | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1.12 | 113 | 68 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
Red Sox Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | Pit | Str |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rubby De La Rosa, W (3-2) | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2.64 | 104 | 61 |
Andrew Miller, H (11) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.13 | 11 | 6 |
Koji Uehara, S (20) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.58 | 11 | 7 |
Team Totals | 9 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.00 | 126 | 74 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.
Balks: None.
WP: R De La Rosa (2).
HBP: None.
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.