Duffy deals, Starling homers as Royals roll to fifth straight spring training victory
Following a shortened MLB season last year, Kansas City Royals left-hander Danny Duffy continued throwing throughout the offseason for the first time in his career.
It might be early to draw concrete conclusions about Duffy’s altered approach, but he certainly feels a difference.
“I think it was really beneficial for me,” Duffy said of his offseason throwing. “I think that’s probably the best thing I could have done. You take time off in the offseason and it’s hard to really off the bat remember the feel you had at the end of the year. I think that is playing into what we’re doing right now. I feel the same way now that I kind of did in September.”
Duffy tossed four no-hit innings without walking a batter and logged four strikeouts in the Royals’ 6-1 win Monday over the San Francisco Giants in a Cactus League game at Surprise Stadium in Arizona. Hunter Dozier hit a pair of doubles, while Salvador Perez (two RBIs) also doubled for the Royals (12-3).
Outfielder Michael A. Taylor went 1 for 3 with an RBI in his first game since he experienced back tightness last week.
Duffy cruised through four innings without allowing anyone to reach base, and he continued to throw in the bullpen in order to build his pitch count.
“I think my fastball command was a lot better than last time out,” Duffy said. “We were able to put people away with the slider for the first time this spring. I think that’s starting to kind of come around and be consistent. Overall, pretty pleased with the effort out there. Just got to keep pushing, keep going forward.”
In his previous outing against the Seattle Mariners, he gave up a five runs and six hits, including a pair of home runs, in three innings.
“Fantastic,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Duffy’s performance Monday. “His stuff looked great, mixed it up well. Gave up a couple hard-hit outs. We had good defensive work all day long, especially in the outfield. They’re making that outfield looking easier to play than what it is.
“I thought that was as good as what we’ve seen from Danny in a while. It was a really good day for him.”
Room for Bubba?
Bubba Starling, a former No. 5 overall draft pick and multi-sport standout from Gardner Edgerton High School, hit a first-inning home run for the second time in as many days. He followed up Sunday night’s grand slam with a two-run smash on Monday. He’s batting .238 this spring.
Starling signed a minor-league contract this winter. He made the Opening Day roster for the first time last year.
The Royals announced three roster moves on Monday morning with infielders Lucius Fox and Kelvin Gutierrez, and outfielder Nick Heath optioned to Triple-A Omaha.
With Heath optioned to the minors, the Royals’ remaining outfielders in major-league camp include Andrew Benintendi, Jarrod Dyson, Whit Merrifield, Jorge Soler and Taylor, while Kyle Isbel and Starling are non-roster invitees still in camp.
Starling slid into the starting lineup again on Monday after Benintendi experienced back soreness.
“We are very confident that this guy is an elite defender for any team in any league,” Matheny said of Starling before the game. “He’s just very good out there.”
While he remains in the outfield mix, Starling may face an uphill battle to make the club out of camp this spring especially after the addition of Dyson.
“We’ve just got to see what’s going to be available,” Matheny said. “Dyson certainly makes that more complex. You’re talking about guys that do the same thing as well as us having a number of pitchers that we feel can help us. So we’ve got to start putting those numbers together.
“Whether it’s 13 and 13, 14 and 12, one way or the other there’s not going to be a lot of spaces available on that bench. But you just never know how this plays out over the rest of the spring.”
Cactus League success
The Royals entered Monday having won two more games than any other team, and their .786 win percentage also led all 30 MLB clubs this spring (the Yankees entered the day second at .679).
The Royals’ 11-3 record was the club’s best start through 14 exhibition games since the 2015 team also went 11-3 through 14 games. The 2015 team, coming off of an AL pennant and a World Series appearance the previous year, went on to win the World Series championship.
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 7:45 PM.
