Duffy, Royals inch closer to the playoffs with scintillating win in Cleveland
The Royals inched closer to the playoffs with a tremendously gutty 2-0 win over Cleveland on Monday night.
The win pulled Kansas City within one game of division-leading Detroit, which lost to the White Sox. The Royals also moved two games ahead of Seattle for the final wild-card spot with just six games to play.
Ned Yost's crew lost the resumed suspended game, 4-3, to the Indians, but came back with a character-check game and won, 2-0, on Monday night.
"We were one hit away from winning both games," Yost said on the FOX Sports Kansas City Royals Live postgame show. "But with Detroit losing and Seattle losing, it made for a great night for us."
The Royals got a run in the first of the regular game on a blistering RBI single by Eric Hosmer, added a run later and benefited from Danny Duffy's strong performance.
Duffy, in his first start since he left Yankee Stadium after throwing one pitch with shoulder inflammation, stifled the Indians over six shutout innings.
"He was a little rusty in his command," Yost said on the postgame show. "... but his stuff was dynamite. After the first inning, I didn't worry about anything with him."
3 UP
-- Finnegan's inning. Rookie Brandon Finnegan was pitching against college kids a few months ago. Now he's in the middle of a pennant race and amazingly, the pressure doesn't seem to bother him. Yost called on Finnegan to pitch the seventh in a tight game with the playoffs on the line, and Finnegan responded. He got the first two hitters on a groundout and a strikeout. After Michael Bourn was late on a fastball and slapped a double down the left-field line, Finnegan came back and struck out Jose Ramirez to end the inning. Terrific job. "He's been unbelievable," closer Greg Holland told FSKC. "He's come in and had great command." Yost agreed: "We wanted to keep their left-handers on the bench and he did a great job." Yost said he wouldn't hesitate to use Finnegan in high-leverage situations down the stretch.
Watch the Royals Live pregame and postgame shows before and after every Kansas City Royals game on FOX Sports Kansas City.
-- Moose's at-bat. The Royals are not very good at situational hitting, and haven't been all season, but Mike Moustakas had a great at-bat in the fifth. After a leadoff double by Omar Infante, Moose was able to pull a pitch to second and got Infante to third with one out. Moose got a ton of high-fives in the dugout for moving the runner. Alcides Escobar then hit a hard shot off the shortstop for an infield hit, allowing Infante to score, which he wouldn't have been able to do if he was on second base.
-- Duffy's first inning. This game could have gotten away early, as the Indians loaded the bases with none out in the first. But Duffy bore down and got Carlos Santana to pop up, then struck out Yan Gomes and got former Royal Mike Aviles to pop out to right field. That inning changed the game's tenor completely -- and maybe the series and the season.
3 DOWN
-- Duffy's misplay. Duffy had a chance for less stress in the first inning when he got a ground ball by Michael Brantley in the first with two on and none out. If Duffy had let the ball go, it would have been an easy double play for Escobar. Instead, Duffy deflected it and the ball died on the infield for a hit.
-- Come on, Alex. Gordon's four-week slump continued Monday. The Royals had two on and two out in the first, but Gordon hit a weak grounder to end the inning. The Royals could have busted the game open. Gordon still has not really been a part of the Royals' surge toward the playoffs, hitting just .162 since Aug. 29.
-- You kidding? OK, it was disappointing that the Royals couldn't pull out a miracle in the resumption of the suspended game. The Royals got an RBI single from Nori Aoki (who else?) and had the tying run on second and the winning run at home, but Infante popped up to end that game. Still, this was a gutty effort for the Royals against a team they have struggled with, and you can't have any complaints with how Monday turned out.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
