Duffy guides Royals to win

Danny Duffy pumped his fist and turned his back to the plate as he stomped off the mound for the final time Monday. He vanished into the Royals dugout, the sight of him blocked by a crowd of teammates clad in sweatshirts.

Duffy spent his night operating in short sleeves, warding off both the early-fall chill and the hard-charging Indians in a 2-0 Royals victory.

On the mound for the first time in two weeks, Duffy silenced Cleveland for six innings. These were hard innings, brought on by his own rustiness and the tenacity of his opponents.

The Indians do not give up at-bats. They forced Duffy to exert himself and to alter his mechanics. He responded by striking out five and scattering five hits, despite pitching with what he called “probably the worst stuff that I’ve had all year.”

“That’s what makes a pitcher, when you don’t have your best stuff, and you compete out there,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “And find a way to get it done.”

After Duffy, 9-11, departed, manager Ned Yost turned to 21-year-old rookie Brandon Finnegan for the seventh inning. Finnegan survived a two-out double by Michael Bourn and exited unscathed. Wade Davis and Greg Holland bowled over the Indians in the final two innings, allowing the Royals to split this unique doubleheader.

Having already lost 4-3 earlier Monday in the resumption of Aug. 31’s suspended game, the Royals, 85-71, could not afford to lose ground to Cleveland. They also managed to maintain a two-game advantage over Seattle for the second wild card while halving Detroit’s lead to one game in the American League Central.

Manager Ned Yost found himself glancing at the scoreboard throughout the evening.

“It was a good day for us,” Yost said.

At 6:05 p.m., 22 days after a late-night storm swept through Kauffman Stadium and caused the game to be suspended, the Royals resumed under unusual circumstances. They had an opportunity for a walk-off victory in a road stadium. Intrigue surrounded the matchup, mostly related to the impending chess match between Yost and his Cleveland counterpart, Terry Francona.

The speculation did not match the actual game. Francona simplified matters by inserting right-handed reliever Scott Atchison and using him for the entire bottom of the 10th inning. Atchison gave up an RBI single to Nori Aoki, but got Omar Infante to pop up with the tying run on second base to secure Cleveland’s victory.

“The odds weren’t great that we were going to come back,” Yost said. “But we were right there. We made it as interesting as we could without winning the ballgame.”

The day’s main event followed in less than an hour. Duffy returned to action after two weeks of treating inflammation in his left rotator cuff. The injury caused him to depart his start on Sept. 6 after only one pitch. The Royals held him out of an appearance on Sept. 16 because they worried he might be overly anxious on the mound and fall prone to overcompensation.

On Monday, there was reason for concern. Duffy declined to blame his inactivity for his performance, but the layoff reduced his effectiveness.

Duffy was imprecise at the start. He issued a leadoff walk to outfielder Michael Bourn and a single to shortstop José Ramirez. When outfielder Michael Brantley rolled a grounder up the middle, the Royals had a chance for a double play. Except Duffy reached out, deflected the ball and left the bases loaded. It was not the first time Duffy made a mistake like this.

“That’s something that’s a reaction thing,” Duffy said. “We’ll work on it. We’ll go out there tomorrow and practice not reaching for balls, or something. I don’t know.”

Duffy required 15 pitches to escape the jam without allowing a run. The first pitch was the most crucial. It was a 95-mph fastball at the belt of Carlos Santana, a thorn in Kansas City’s side all summer. Santana could not torment them here. He lofted a lazy pop-up high above the infield.

“I knew he was going to come out hacking,” Duffy said. “He got under it a little bit.”

Granted a reprieve, Duffy shook free. He walked into the dugout and huddled with pitching coach Dave Eiland. To simplify his mechanics, Duffy planned to ditch his windup delivery and work only out of the stretch. Eiland agreed — they could work on his delivery in between starts. For now, there was a game to win.

“It was a simple adjustment,” Duffy said. “But it had to be done. I hadn’t pitched in a while. I just needed to find my timing.”

With Duffy locating his rhythm, his teammates poked away at Indians starter Carlos Carrasco. The matchup did not appear favorable for Kansas City. Cleveland shifted Carrasco back to its starting rotation in mid-August, and watched him devastate the American League with a blazing fastball-and-slider combination.

In his last eight starts, Carrasco had surrendered only seven runs. The Royals got one off him in the first. The catalyst was Nori Aoki, who caught fire at the end of the Royals’ home stand. He singled and stole second. Hosmer lined an RBI single off the glove of first baseman Chris Gimenez.

Carrasco allowed another run in the fifth. Infante dropped a double into left field. With the infield playing in, Alcides Escobar smacked a hard grounder at Ramirez at short. The ball bounced off Ramirez and into the outfield. Duffy had his second run to protect.

He would do his part. Then came Finnegan, who fanned two batters with a pair of lethal change-ups. It was academic in the final two innings, and the Royals widened their playoff window while cutting into Detroit’s advantage.

“Our mind-set is to come in here, take care of business and win a ballgame,” Hosmer said. “And worry about all that stuff after.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2014 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Duffy guides Royals to win."