KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Danny Duffy reported for duty in the second inning in a flash. When things are going this well, you can't wait to toe the rubber.
After two nights of watching Yankees circle the bases, the Royals needed a line in the sand pitching performance and got one from Duffy in a 5-1 victory on Thursday.
The Royals (17-23) avoided the series sweep and depart on a 10-game road trip on a positive note.
Mike Moustakas provided the game's biggest blow, a three-run homer in the fifth that extended a 2-0 lead.
Duffy had all the cushion he would need when the Royals scored two early runs but the cushion was welcome. He had recorded two victories in his first three starts, had none to show for his previous five. The Royals went 1-4 and were shut out three times in those games.
In seven innings Thursday, Duffy allowed three hits and struck out 10, the fourth double-digit strikeout game of his career. The tone was set from the outset, when Duffy fanned the side in the first.
Until Thursday, the Yankees were doing most of the scoring in the series, plating 18 while pounding out 29 hits. The Royals didn't lead in either of those games.
Duffy retired the first nine before Jacoby Ellsbury opened the fourth with a drag bunt to the right side. Duffy pounced off the mound and threw a dart to Eric Hosmer. First base umpire Jim Reynolds called him out.
Ellsbury started making his way back the dugout when the Yankees dugout put up the stop sign. The Yanks challenged and won. Duffy's throw appeared to beat Ellsbury by the closest of margins, but Hosmer's foot was ruled to have left the bag as the ball arrived.
Ellsbury had the team's first hit and the Yankees got a second baserunner when Matt Holliday drew a one-out walk. But they didn't come any closer to scoring until the ninth when three hits off closer Kelvin Herrera produced a run as the Yankees avoided their first shutout of the season.
The Royals stitched together a two-run second inning with some help from the Yankees, good base running and clutch swings from the bottom of the order.
Hosmer got it started with a leadoff walk and one out later Jorge Bonifacio walked.
When third baseman Chase Headley fielded Jorge Soler's grounder on a big hop, an easy double play was in order. But first baseman Chris Carter couldn't cleanly glove Starlin Castro's one-hop throw.
Whit Merrifield followed with a line single up the middle scoring Hosmer.
Drew Butera punched a line single to right, perhaps too hard to score Soler from second. But third base coach Mike Jirschele saw that right fielder Aaron Judge didn't get a good jump on the ball and waved Soler home. Judge's throw was on line but high and Soler slid under the tag for a 2-0 lead.
Merrifield got things started in the fifth by pushing a bunt single past starter Jordan Montgomery. One out later, Alcides Escobar walked for the fifth time this season.
That brought up Moustakas. From a power perspective, he's off to his best start this season, a pace to approach 40 homers, which would be a team record. But seven of Moustakas' first eight blasts were of the solo variety.
But in Sunday's victory over the Orioles, Moustakas crushed a three-run homer, and he matched that Thursday.
Off the bat, it looked like a no-doubter, but the ball, hit into a strong wind, cleared the right-field wall with a few feet to spare. Still, the shot opened the game and provided Duffy with support.
