Danny Duffy tapped again as the Royals’ fifth starter

Danny Duffy will make his second start of the season Thursday evening in Seattle. From there, Royals manager Ned Yost has said he will not require a fifth starter again until May 17, thanks to an off-day next Monday.

When the team placed Bruce Chen on the disabled list, a designation caused by a bulging disc in his back, Yost indicated the club hoped to have Chen back around the 17th.

But with Chen still days away from resuming any meaningful baseball activity, the team will stick with Duffy, general manager Dayton Moore said.

“It’s safe to assume that Duff is a part of this rotation for the immediate future,” Moore said Tuesday afternoon, and indicated if Duffy caught fire he would remain there.

Duffy (1-2, 2.19 ERA) threw four innings of one-run baseball against Detroit on Saturday. He walked four. The Tigers coaxed 75 pitches out of him, which forced Yost to turn to his beleaguered bullpen in a loss. Duffy had made six appearances out of the bullpen to start the season.

Meanwhile, Chen (1-2, 7.45 ERA) has been limited to playing catch. He wants to keep his arm loose. During home games, he cannot watch from the bench, because the position stresses his back. Instead, he floats in the team’s indoor pool system and watches on television.

Chen would likely require a rehabilitation start in the minors before he can return.

“We’re still unsure about Bruce’s timeline at this point,” Moore said. “He’s not throwing a baseball competitively right now. And every day a pitcher doesn’t, it gets to a point in time where you’ve got to build him back up. And those things take time.”

Jeremy Guthrie ended his last outing with a flourish. After catching a line drive at Kauffman Stadium, Guthrie flung the baseball into the third-deck behind home plate. The gesture allowed him to blow off steam after allowing a go-ahead home run to the Blue Jays.

Guthrie’s outburst was humorous. But in 2009, reliever Fernando Rodney received a three-game suspension for throwing a ball into the Tropicana Field press box. So Yost asked Guthrie to not repeat himself on Tuesday.

“I don’t think you’ll see that again,” Yost said.

This story was originally published May 7, 2014 at 12:54 AM with the headline "Danny Duffy tapped again as the Royals’ fifth starter."