After Saturday's loss to the Yankees, a game in which starting pitcher Danny Duffy surrendered five earned runs over 95 pitches in four innings, Royals manager Ned Yost said he "was going over a bunch of different things," to find answers for Duffy's woes this season.
But those options do not include skipping a start or a bullpen assignment for Duffy, the Royals' Opening Day starter, Yost said before Sunday's game.
"He's a major-league starter," Yost said. "It doesn't mean putting on the (disabled list) or in the bullpen. I have some ideas, but I'm not going to share them with you.
"He's making his next start."
Frustrations mounted for Duffy, whose record dropped to 1-6 and ERA ballooned to 6.88 after Saturday's game, won by the Yankees 8-3. Duffy surrendered an inside-the-park home run to Aaron Hicks and a crushing three-run homer to ninth-place hitter Gleyber Torres in the fourth inning after the Royals had tied the game at 2 in the third.
Duffy was hard on himself after the game.
"I'm tired of going out there and getting my ass kicked. I really am," Duffy said. "Every fifth day _ it's miserable. That being said, sometimes you're just not special at something. And right now I'm not special at pitching."
But he's not headed to the bullpen or skipping a start.
