Danny Duffy strikes out 10 Yankees in dealing Royals a 5-1 victory

The Royals needed a big game from their ace, and Danny Duffy delivered.

After two nights of getting dizzy watching the Yankees circle the bases, the Royals and Duffy responded with a 5-1 triumph on Thursday.

The Royals (17-23) avoided the three-game sweep in the series, and Duffy’s work, excellent all night, actually started before the game.

“I was just trying to keep the guys loose,” Duffy said. “Today, I just wanted to get people laughing, get them going. I walked into the dugout and said, ‘I need the vibe tribe tonight.’”

Duffy did his part, scattering three hits over seven innings while striking out 10, the fourth double-digit strikeout game of his career. Nine of the whiffs were of the swing-and-miss variety.

“Everything had the action I wanted,” Duffy said. “I knew this was a game we really needed to have. I felt good from the jump.”

So good that Duffy struck out the side in the first. He mowed through the first nine hitters with six strikeouts, and, yes, Duffy said the stuff was there to think early on about a no-hitter.

“I felt I had one of those nights when I was locked in,” Duffy said. “I was locked in in the bullpen.”

The first Yankees’ hit required a replay and reversal when Jacoby Ellsbury opened the fourth with a drag bunt to the right side. Duffy pounced off the mound and threw a dart to Eric Hosmer. First-base umpire Jim Reynolds called him out.

Ellsbury started making his way back when the Yankees dugout put up the stop sign. The Yanks would challenge, and win. The throw appeared to beat Ellsbury by the closest of margins, but Hosmer’s foot was ruled to have left the bag as the ball arrived.

By then, the Royals had built a 2-0 lead with help from the Yankees, good base running and clutch swings from the bottom of the order.

Hosmer got it started with a leadoff walk, and one out later Jorge Bonifacio walked.

When Yankees third baseman Chase Headley fielded Jorge Soler’s grounder on a big hop, an easy double play was in order. But first baseman Chris Carter couldn’t cleanly glove Starlin Castro’s one-hop throw.

The Royals’ Whit Merrifield followed with a line single up the middle scoring Hosmer.

Drew Butera punched a line single to right, perhaps too hard to score Soler from second. But third-base coach Mike Jirschele saw that Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge didn’t get a good jump on the ball, and Jirschele waved Soler home. Judge’s throw was on line but high and Soler slid under the tag for a 2-0 lead.

“At that point you’re feeling pretty good,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The Royals felt even better after Moustakas stepped to the plate in the fifth.

Merrifield got things started in the fifth by pushing a bunt single past starter Jordan Montgomery. One out later, Alcides Escobar walked for the fifth time this season.

That brought up Moustakas. From a power perspective, he’s off to his best start this season, a pace to approach 40 homers, which would be a team record. But seven of Moustakas’ first eight blasts were of the solo variety.

But in Sunday’s victory over the Orioles, Moustakas crushed a three-run homer, and he matched that Thursday against the Yankees.

Off the bat, it looked like a no-doubter, but the ball, hit into a strong wind, just cleared the wall with the 6-foot-7 Judge making a leaping attempt at a catch.

“When I saw him going back to get it I kind of got nervous,” Moustakas said. “I knew I hit it pretty good, but when I saw him going back and start climbing the fence … thankfully he didn’t grab it.”

Duffy had recorded two victories in his first three starts this season but had none to show for in his previous five. The Royals went 1-4 in those starts and were shut out three times in those games.

Thursday, facing a possible sweep by a Yankees team that had pounded out 18 runs and 29 hits over the first two games, the Royals bats came through to support Duffy.

“It’s big,” said Moustakas. “Duffy, that’s what we need from our ace. We were going through a little skid and we needed him to do exactly what he did.”

Royals 5, Yankees 1

This story was originally published May 18, 2017 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Danny Duffy strikes out 10 Yankees in dealing Royals a 5-1 victory."