KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Danny Duffy handed the baseball to his manager and began the lonely walk back to the dugout, 40 paces or so on a cool Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
For five-plus innings in a 6-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Duffy had labored and battled. He struggled to finish off hitters. His command lacked its finest polish. The final result was a night of blunted momentum, another loss after a cathartic victory on Monday, a missed opportunity with the Royals' left-handed ace on the mound.
One night after burying a nine-game losing streak, the Royals' most visible flaws surfaced again against a division rival. The offense was inert against White Sox starter Jose Quintana, finishing with just four hits and few scoring chances. The lack of production was coupled by a second straight off evening from Duffy, who could not survive more than five innings for a second straight start.
The performance should not spark panic _ at least as far as Duffy is concerned. After a dazzling start to his season, he has scuffled in two straight starts against the White Sox, allowing six earned runs in both outings. Yet at the macro level, the performance does raise another question. To escape a deep hole after a 7-16 April, the Royals (8-17) must fire on all cylinders for the foreseeable future. On Tuesday, with one of their top guns on the mound, they most definitely were not.
Duffy was making his first start since an eventful night in Chicago last week. A contentious balk call by umpire Bruce Dreckman had derailed his outing in the second inning. He seethed as the call limited his slide-step, an important weapon, for the rest of the game. By the end, Duffy had allowed six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, his ERA spiking to 2.81. He spent most of his postgame media session critiquing Dreckman's call, calling the balk "garbage."
"It's not sour grapes," Duffy said. "I still need to locate (my pitches). I still need to make pitches. But it was a terrible call. And that's something that, in that situation, you just got to let the players play, man."
Five days later, Duffy toed the rubber against the same White Sox lineup. There was little controversy, just a left-hander struggling to put away hitters across the early innings. Five of the White Sox's first seven batters reached base. Duffy allowed eight hits, nine base runners and four runs across the first three innings.
The Royals had little answer against Quintana, who finished off eight scoreless innings. Resting left-handed hitters Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and Brandon Moss against the southpaw Quintana, the Kansas City offense reverted to its April norms.
In some ways, this was not close. Duffy escaped the first inning unscathed after allowing two singles, striking out Melky Cabrera on a borderline 3-2 pitch and inducing a double play from Jose Abreu. But the trouble continued in the second. For three straight batters, Duffy worked ahead in a two-strike count, only to give up hits to Todd Frazier, Avisail Garcia and Geovany Soto. The White Sox took advantage for two runs before striking again in the top of the third.
The White Sox tacked on two more runs in the sixth against Duffy and reliever Chris Young, pouncing on a questionable decision from second baseman Christian Colon.
With runners at the corners and one out, Chicago's Leury Garcia hit a sharp grounder at Colon. Even with a fast runner hustling out of the box, Colon likely would have had time to flip to shortstop Alcides Escobar at second and execute an inning-ending double play. Instead, he threw home to cut down the lead runner. Seconds later, catcher Drew Butera got caught up the line. And everybody ended up safe.
The moment offered a capstone for the loss. The Royals had an opportunity to win a series on Tuesday. Then Duffy struggled, and the offense followed right behind.
