Royals’ bats stay quiet in 4-1 loss to Orioles, KC’s fifth straight defeat

Daniel Duffy Sr. plopped down on a leather sofa in the middle of a lively clubhouse, scanning the screen of his iPhone on late Monday afternoon.

It was just past 4:30 p.m. at Camden Yards, Salsa music blaring in the corner of the room, and Dan Duffy kept one eye on his son, Danny, who was pacing about the room in a retro Kobe Bryant high school uniform. In any other week of the season, perhaps this scene would have seemed odd, a father sitting in the room as his son prepared for a major-league start.

On Monday, as the Royals’ annual Fathers Road Trip hit another city, Daniel Duffy ran the gamut of emotions with his son. From his seat in the lower level of Camden Yards, he watched him open the game with six scoreless innings. He witnessed him tie a career high with nine strikeouts. He watched as Danny Duffy allowed two solo homers in the bottom of the seventh, the decisive runs in the Royals’ 4-1 loss here in Baltimore.

On the opening night of a three-game series, the Kansas City offense was quiet again, squandering a terrific outing from Duffy. The Royals lost for the fifth straight game, nearly erasing a six-game winning streak that had catapulted them into first place in the American League Central.

For three days in Cleveland, the Royals had been shut down by a trio of solid right-handed starters, managing just two runs against Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin and Corey Kluber. On Monday, they were silenced by the right arm of Mike Wright, a 26-year-old with a 5.96 career ERA in 93 2/3 career innings.

The Royals’ only run came on a bizarre error in the top of the seventh — more on that in a moment — and the lead melted away in the bottom half of the inning.

Duffy allowed solo homers to Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters. The Orioles tacked on another run against reliever Luke Hochevar before Adam Jones homered off Kelvin Herrera in the eighth.

It was the first homer allowed by Herrera since he surrendered a grand slam to Nolan Reimold here at Camden Yards on Sept. 11, 2015.

Duffy yielded just two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. He took the loss in his fifth start of the season. In four previous starts, Duffy had posted a 3.86 ERA, allowing eight runs in 18 2/3 innings, racking up 19 strikeouts against just two walks. On Monday, he racked up nine strikeouts before succumbing to the long ball.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead on a bizarre play in the top of the seventh. With runners on first and second with two outs, Jarrod Dyson hit a chopper into the hole at shortstop. Orioles shortstop Manny Machado slung the ball toward second base for the force, but second baseman Jonathan Schoop spiked the relay throw into a sliding Cheslor Cuthbert.

The ball appeared to ricochet directly off Cuthbert’s elbow and bounced away, allowing Paulo Orlando to sprint home from third. It also left Cuthbert in serious pain on the infield dirt.

It appeared that Schoop tried to eat the throw after seeing Dyson sprinting toward third base. Cuthbert would exit the game the next half-inning. He was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion and listed at day to day.

What's going on with the Royals' offense? 

This story was originally published June 6, 2016 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Royals’ bats stay quiet in 4-1 loss to Orioles, KC’s fifth straight defeat."