KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Los Angeles Angels didn’t get many chances against Kansas City Royals veteran left-hander Danny Duffy, and by the end of the night they sure wished they’d done more with the shots they’d gotten.
Duffy’s lone blemish came courtesy of the athletic freak Shohei Ohtani, who blasted a solo home run in the fifth. That homer snapped Duffy’s streak of 10 2/3 scoreless innings to start the season.
One night after the Angels tagged the Royals for 10 runs, Duffy held them one run on eight hits and a solitary walk in six innings. The Angels scratched out one run against the bullpen, but the Royals held on for a 3-2 win in front of an announced 6,404 at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night to even up the series at a game apiece.
The teams will play the rubber match on Wednesday afternoon.
Whit Merrifield went 2 for 4 with two runs scored, while Salvador Perez went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Carlos Santana had a sacrifice fly and drove in two runs for the Royals (5-4).
The Royals’ razor-thin margin of victory came on thanks to an unearned run in the fifth inning.
After Ohtani’s homer cut the Royals’ lead in half, 2-1, Merrifield took advantage of a miscue to reach base for the second time in the game.
Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki dropped a high pop-up in foul territory to extend Merrifield’s at-bat. Given a second life, Merrifield smacked a slider into right field for a single. He then stole second base — his second stolen base of the night — to move into scoring position.
Andrew Benintendi flew out to left field for what should have been the third out of the inning, but the inning continued and brought Perez to the plate with two outs and a runner in scoring position. Perez swatted a 3-2 pitch into left field for a broken-bat RBI single as Merrifield scored.
That run restored the Royals’ two-run advantage and gave them a 3-1 edge. The third run proved crucial after Suzuki’s sacrifice fly in the eighth, the 700th RBI of his career, made it a one-run game again.
Greg Holland pitched the final four outs for the Royals, earning the save.
