Royals starter Danny Duffy exits final Cactus League start because of tight shoulder

After a pair of mound visits at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, Royals opening day starter Danny Duffy was removed from his outing against the Diamondbacks on Saturday because of shoulder tightness. It was his final tune-up of spring training.

As his arm was tested for injury, his shoulder had already begun to feel better. He should not miss the season opener on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

"You don’t want to try to push for six, seven innings while you’re here when you could potentially miss a couple starts if you power through it and it is actually something," Duffy said. "Lo and behold, we come out of the game and it’s nothing. It’s better to not gamble."

Duffy was visited on the mound by Royals staff members in the second inning, after he allowed a double and back-to-back walks to start the frame. He told manager Ned Yost and trainer Nick Kenney that his left shoulder felt tight, as though it needed to pop, but he wanted to work through it.

Duffy was allowed to remain in the game. With help from catcher Drew Butera, who started a rundown to catch the Diamondbacks' Jeff Mathis attempting to steal third base, Duffy worked out of the bases-loaded jam. One run scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Royals sent only three batters up in the top of the third inning, limiting Duffy's' recovery time.

He left the game after throwing two pitches to leadoff batter Ben DeLuzio in the bottom half of the inning. Duffy was replaced immediately with Rule 5 pitcher Brad Keller, who threw two no-hit innings in what ended in a 4-4 tie.

"We don’t have much concern over it," Yost said. "We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. But his shoulder was just tight and it didn’t make any sense to push through it right now."

Duffy threw 32 pitches, 16 for strikes, and was charged with one run in his two-plus innings of work. He reached 92 mph with his four-seam fastball against the last batter he faced.

"I was throwing through a swimming pool today," Duffy said. "It was like I had parachutes on every pitch. But it was fine. I’ll be fine, rest assured."

This story was originally published March 24, 2018 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Royals starter Danny Duffy exits final Cactus League start because of tight shoulder."