Brewers put a damper on Duffy’s return to Royals’ starting rotation with 6-run inning
Kansas City Royals left-hander Danny Duffy made his first start since the club sidelined him for missing a team flight to Detroit earlier this week.
His teammates burst out of the gates and staked him to a four-run lead in the first inning. But the Milwaukee Brewers scored the game’s next nine runs and put a damper on Duffy’s return to the starting rotation.
Duffy allowed six runs, which matched a season high, on seven hits. All the significant damage came in the fourth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers blasted a pair of homers, including a Jacob Nottingham grand slam as they dealt the Royals a 9-5 loss in the opening game of a three-game series at Miller Park Friday night.
The Royals (21-30) have now lost two of their last three games after having won six in a row. The other loss came on Tuesday night when the Royals scratched Duffy from his start for disciplinary action. Jakob Junis started in his place on short notice and didn’t make it through the third inning.
“Jakob Junis has become one of my best friends, and I felt like I put him in a spot,” Duffy said. “He’s the ultimate competitor. He wants to take the ball as many times as he can, but I didn’t give him much of an opportunity to get ready for that. He was good enough to ride with it. I felt like I put our bullpen in a bad spot.”
Duffy said he wasn’t pressing in his start because he felt like he needed to make it up to his teammates for not making his start earlier in the week.
In the aftermath of the Royals skipping Duffy’s start, FOX4 reported that Duffy was found with a damaged vehicle in Kansas City Monday night waiting on a ride.
The Kansas City Police Department released these details regarding a call officers responded to at 6:48 p.m. Monday: “Officers were dispatched on a suspicious car and occupant to 16th and Jefferson. They found a male in a car, which was parked legally. The vehicle was off and the keys were not in the ignition. There was some damage on the vehicle that rendered it incapable of operating. The owner of the vehicle arranged to have the vehicle towed from the location. Due to no apparent crime committed, there was no police incident report completed.”
Duffy addressed the incident with his car.
“I hit a pothole and blew out my right tire,” Duffy said. “My buddy came and got me and took me to the airport. It was a really, really bad day. I addressed my team. Everyone every single one to a man, said, ‘We got you. We’ll pick you up.’
“It’s something that will never happen again. You mistake a time on a team flight, that’s just not something that you don’t see every day. That will never happen again. It’s not what leaders do.”
On Friday night, Duffy gave up four hits, including a grand slam, and also walked a pair — including one with the bases loaded on four pitches — in the fourth inning before handing the pitching duties over to right-hander Jake Newberry with two outs and a man on base.
“That fourth inning can’t happen, and unfortunately it has happened like four times this year,” Duffy said. “Big innings continuing to bite. It’s a bummer the way it went down. I put our bullpen in a bad spot.”
When asked about the events of the week factoring into Duffy’s performance, Royals catcher Salvador Perez said the pregame preparation went great such that he though Duffy had moved past the incident.
“He’s a great guy, a great person,” Perez said. “I’ve known him since 2007. I feel like he’s my brother. We have a great relationship. He’s fine. He just made a couple pitches in the middle of the plate. It’s going to be good the next time.”
Perez went 4 for 5 with a home run, a double, four RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base, while Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi had two hits apiece. Mondesi also registered his MLB-leading 18th stolen base. Perez now has three home runs in his last six games.
Ryan O’Hearn and Mondesi also hit doubles in the loss.
The Royals stranded 10 men on base, and they went 4 for 15 with runners in scoring position.
Perez roped a two-run double into right-center field in the first inning to drive in the first two runs of the game. That extended his streak to six consecutive games with an extra-base hit. He scored on a throwing error by the catcher Nottingham as Hunter Dozier stole second base.
In the third inning, Perez drove in his third run of the night with an RBI single lined into left field to score Mondesi from second. Perez’s single gave him a sixth consecutive multi-hit game since he came off the IL last week. In that inning, Perez also logged his first stolen base May 1, 2018.
The Royals maintained the 4-0 advantage until the fourth inning when Brewers star outfielder Christian Yelich hit a 2-0 fastball from Duffy to center field for a solo home run to start a six-run inning.
Newberry gave up a three-run homer to Orlando Arcia with two outs in the fifth inning. The Royals trailed 9-4 after the fifth.
The Royals put runners on second and third with no outs and failed to score in the sixth. They also left the bases loaded in the eighth.
Perez’s solo home run in the ninth closed out the scoring.
“We had chances to keep pecking away even when we had nine on the board against us,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “There were chances we had with second and third with nobody out, put the ball in play and take what they’re going to give us. Start getting some momentum going. Salvy hits that ball late, and you tack on two or three of those opportunities that we had and you’re looking at a 9-8 game right there.”
Right-handed pitcher Scott Blewett made his big-league debut out of the bullpen for the Royals. He pitched two scoreless innings, struck out two and allowed three hits.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 10:39 PM.
