One bad inning dooms Danny Duffy, Royals in 5-1 loss to Yankees

As erratic as Danny Duffy was through four innings, the outing was encouraging measured against his previous two.

He was battling his control, but Duffy was getting outs and keeping the Royals in the game.

But he couldn’t escape the fifth inning.

Chase Headley powered a three-run homer into the Royals’ bullpen, giving the Yankees separation in a 5-1 victory on Saturday in front of 31,871 at Kaufman Stadium.

The Royals’ loss leaves them tied with the Tigers atop the Central Division after Detroit won its second straight at St. Louis. The Royals and Tigers are 23-14.

Duffy was close to dodging danger, getting two quick outs to open the fifth. But consecutive hard singles by Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran preceded Headley, who fouled off the first two pitches.

Headley worked his way back to a full count, then turned on a change-up that Duffy left up, and the Yankees led 4-1.

“I didn’t execute that pitch,” Duffy said. “If I execute that pitch, maybe he rolls it over. But it was a bad pitch, and it’s frustrating. What’s done is done, but I feel like I’m going to turn the corner.”

As Headley circled the bases, Duffy pounded his glove in frustration. He got one more out and his night was over.

Duffy wasn’t happy with home-plate umpire John Tumpane, who called ball three on a pitch Duffy thought caught the corner.

Had Duffy gotten the strikeout there, he would have left the game at a 1-1 tie, and manager Ned Yost would have salivated at the prospect of finishing the game with a rested bullpen.

“But we didn’t get that out,” Yost said.

Asked if Duffy would remain in the rotation, Yost said, “Any decision we’re going to make about anything isn’t going to be made tonight.”

Duffy said he’s on the upswing.

“I could take away a lot of positives from today,” he said.

Duffy went five innings, throwing 113 pitches, and his record dropped to 2-3. But he endured beyond his previous two outings, one inning at Cleveland on May 6 and 3 2/3 at Texas on Monday. He surrendered a combined 10 earned runs in those games, so Saturday represented progress on that front.

But his lack of control remains troubling. He followed a six-walk performance earlier this week with four against the Yankees.

The pitch count soared each inning, but after walking the bases loaded with one out in the third, he limited the Yankees to Beltran’s sacrifice fly.

“You never want to have a three-walk inning, but we’ll take that,” Duffy said.

The Royals got that run back in the third, and believed they should have had more.

Omar Infante opened with a single, and Paulo Orlando squared to lay down a sacrifice bunt. The ball reached pitcher CC Sabathia in plenty of time, but his slight bobble was all the break Orlando needed to beat the throw.

Alcides Escobar followed with a dribbler up the middle, and third-base coach Mike Jirschele held Infante at third.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, Mike Moustakas’s fly ball was deep enough to score Infante.

But Lorenzo Cain, who had produced a run in his seven other plate appearances this season with a runner at third and fewer than two outs, took a called strike three.

Eric Hosmer appeared to pick up his teammate with a fly that eluded left fielder Chris Young. But the ball was foul by the slimmest of margins, and Sabathia struck out Hosmer for the second time.

A night after the Royals produced 12 runs, they were held in check most of the night by Sabathia, who had struggled for most of this season.

Sabathia improved to 2-5, winning his second straight after losing five of his first six starts. But the veteran lefty has always been tough of the Royals. He now owns a 19-11 record in 37 career starts against the Royals.

He scatted six hits over seven innings and struck out five without surrendering a walk.

Both starting pitchers had entered the game looking to reverse recent fortunes. Only Sabathia went further in his quest.

Yankees 5, Royals 1

This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 9:12 PM with the headline "One bad inning dooms Danny Duffy, Royals in 5-1 loss to Yankees."