Royals break out of offensive drought, beat Blue Jays 4-2

When you haven’t eaten in days, any morsel of nourishment can feel like the finest Wagyu steak in the chop house. When a baseball team hasn’t scored more than three runs in nine games, any dosage of offense can feel like an onslaught.

Such was the case on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals put up four runs against the Blue Jays, and for a night, they could feel like kings again in the Kansas City clubhouse, scoring a 4-2 victory over Toronto in front of 35,986 fans.

The victory evened a three-game series at one game apiece and ended an anemic stretch of offense that was nearing all-time status. The run support was a gift for left-hander Danny Duffy, who improved to 8-1 on the season and pitched the Royals to a victory for an eighth straight start.

“Anytime you keep your team in the game against these guys, it’s a blessing — it’s a victory,” Duffy said after the game. “But the fact the offense did a great job tonight was just icing on the cake.”

The Royals, 52-58, had not scored more than three runs in a game since scoring seven against the Los Angeles Angels on July 27. The stretch spanned three series and the duration of an eight-game road trip, making it the second longest in club history. On Saturday, they pushed across their fourth run in the bottom of the sixth, on an RBI triple from rookie Raul Mondesi.

Mondesi also supplied a bunt single that loaded the bases in the fifth inning. Eric Hosmer provided the most important hit of the night, lining a two-out, two-run single into center field in the fifth. The single capped a three-run rally against Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez, who had journeyed to the All-Star Game earlier this summer. It offered something even more precious and rare: A clutch two-out hit.

“Hos came through,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It was a big two-out hit at that point and gave us the lead that we never looked back on.”

In most ways, Duffy was the main beneficiary. Five days earlier, he had crafted the best performance of his career in a 3-0 victory at Tampa Bay. He had struck out a franchise-record 16 hitters while allowing one hit over eight innings and had a no-hitter going into the bottom of the eighth.

On Saturday, Duffy lacked the unhittable dominance that he flashed at Tropicana Field. But he did resemble the nascent ace of the last two months.

“I didn’t have what I had the last time out,” Duffy said. “But I had enough.”

He allowed two runs and five hits over 6  2/3 innings pitched. He finished with six strikeouts and two walks while throwing 92 pitches. He lowered his ERA by percentage points — to 2.97 — while pushing his career high in strikeouts for a season to 132. When the victory was secure, and the night was over, Toronto manager John Gibbons, a former Royals bench coach, called Duffy “one of the better young pitchers in the game.”

“He’s come a long way,” Gibbons said. “He used to have control problems. I saw him as a young kid. He’s got a dynamite breaking ball. He’s learned how to pitch, you know?”

He’s also, perhaps, learned how to shake off rough spots. One day after bookending a Royals loss with two homers, Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis opened the first inning with a solo blast to left field. The homer came on a Duffy breaking ball that flattened out across the top of the zone. Travis, who entered the weekend with seven homers, notched his second leadoff homer in two days and his third solo shot of the series. As Duffy left the mound in the first inning, he let out a demonstrative yell.

“I wasn’t dwelling on it,” Duffy said. “But it was just minor frustration of leaving a change-up up, when I’ve been so good with the change-up this entire season. It was frustrating, but you don’t let it affect the next hitter, and I didn’t.”

Four innings later, Travis would best Duffy again, lining a two-out RBI single into right field. The hit scored Kevin Pillar from second base and stretched the Blue Jays’ lead to 2-0. And perhaps the image burrowed into the mind of Yost.

In the top of the seventh, Duffy was set to face Travis again with two outs and a man on base. This time, Yost emerged from the dugout and summoned reliever Peter Moylan, who excels against right-handed hitters. Moylan struck out Travis on five pitches, ending the inning and preserving a slim lead. He returned for the top of the eighth, handing the baton to Kelvin Herrera for the ninth.

There was no Wade Davis on Saturday, no Luke Hochevar. But there was a side-arming Aussie in Moylan, foiling the heart of the Blue Jays’ order with an array of sinkers and sliders. For the Royals, who badly needed a victory, that was enough.

“With the injuries that we’ve had, it’s certainly an opportunity for the other guys in the pen to get some high-leverage situations like that,” Moylan said. “And that’s what you play for. That’s the reason you put on the uniform.”

Royals 4, Blue Jays 2

E: Cuthbert (10). LOB: Toronto 6, Kansas City 8. 2B: Pillar (27), Cuthbert (15), Perez (21). 3B: Mondesi (1). HR: Travis (10), off Duffy. RBIs: Travis 2 (31), Escobar (28), Hosmer 2 (61), Mondesi (3). SB: Pillar (10), Hosmer (5), Orlando (9).

Runners left in scoring position: Toronto 2 (Travis, Tulowitzki); Kansas City 6 (Escobar, Morales 2, Perez 2, Mondesi). RISP: Toronto 1 for 5; Kansas City 5 for 17. Runners moved up: Hosmer.

Holds: Moylan (2). Inherited runners-scored: Moylan 1-0. WP: Sanchez. PB: Martin (7), Perez (2).

Umpires: Home, Brian Gorman; First, Nic Lentz; Second, Quinn Wolcott; Third, Mark Carlson. Time: 2:36. Att: 35,986.

This story was originally published August 6, 2016 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Royals break out of offensive drought, beat Blue Jays 4-2."