Teaford gets first big-league win for Royals

SEATTLE | Everett Teaford’s first big-league start couldn’t have turned out much better Sunday afternoon after his five shutout innings helped produce his first big-league victory when the Royals held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 at Safeco Field.

“To have your 100th (professional) start be your first big-league start and the first win of your career … ,” he began. “My dad was here. That was obviously awesome to have him in town. You can’t write up a better story than that.”

The aftermath included the obligatory beer shower that accompanies a first big-league victory, a varied collection of mementos along with a promise by manager Ned Yost of at least one more start in the season’s closing days.

“Look, we got through that 23-pitch first,” Yost said, “and I’m thinking we’ll be lucky to get three out of him. Then he settled down and did a great job of getting us through five. I wanted to try to get him through five when we had the one-run lead.

“I wanted to try to do everything I could to give him an opportunity to get his first big-league victory. I probably wouldn’t have gone further than 75 pitches with him, but he did it. He got us through five with the lead, and the bullpen did an outstanding job.”

Teaford, 27, drew the start, after 23 relief appearances, because the Royals opted to shut down Danny Duffy because of workload concerns. Club officials are also reluctant to disrupt Class AAA Omaha’s bid to win the Pacific Coast League title.

Yost cited Teaford early last week as a likely replacement for Duffy, but the decision remained tentative until the Royals used rookie Nate Adcock for 2 2/3 innings in Friday’s loss to the Mariners.

Only then did Teaford’s father, Jim, know his last-moment decision to re-route himself from a trade show in New Orleans through Atlanta to Seattle would pay off.

“Obviously, until Friday, we were guessing,” Teaford said, “but it was great to have him out here.”

It was worth the effort when Teaford, 1-0, limited the Mariners to three hits — all singles — in five innings while striking out five and walking one. He closed a 73-pitch outing by striking out the side in the fifth before handing a 1-0 lead to his bullpen mates.

“He was amazing,” catcher Brayan Peña said. “We were attacking, but we were doing it with his off-speed (pitches) early. Then he was able to use his fastball when he needed to use it.”

Teaford and the bullpen needed to be good because the Royals didn’t do much against Seattle rookie Anthony Vasquez, who had allowed 15 runs in 15 innings over his three previous starts since arriving from Class AAA Tacoma.

“He was really different from other guys,” left fielder Alex Gordon said. “Soft change-ups. Big loopy soft curveballs. His heater was only 88, but when you’re throwing other stuff that soft, it looks a lot harder than that.”

But Gordon and the Royals caught a break when his two-out fly ball in the third inning turned into an RBI double when left fielder Mike Carp lost the ball in the sun. Gordon then added a conventional RBI double in the seventh against reliever Shawn Kelley.

It was enough.

Reliever Greg Holland surrendered the shutout in the eighth, but Joakim Soria pitched around a single in the ninth for his 28th save.

“This was a tough game,” Yost said, “and we found a way to win a one-run game.”

The Royals gained a split in the four-game series and completed a 4-3 road trip. They also moved two games ahead of Minnesota in their quest to avoid finishing last.

“One start, anybody can be on,” Teaford said. “And for one start, anybody can be horrible. So I don’t necessarily think today (means) I’m the next coming of Tom Glavine just because I had one good start. But it’s a step in the right direction.”

To reach Bob Dutton, send email to bdutton@kcstar.com.