KANSAS CITY, MO. -- Danny Duffy's 15th pitch of Kansas City's 10-3 loss to Cleveland landed outside the open batter's box, needing only one hop to locate the screen behind home plate. Brandon Moss stood in the left-hander's batter's box and didn't sniff the wild pitch.
The errant 81-mph slider gifted Cleveland its first run of the night and previewed Duffy's struggles to come.
"It was like eight feet outside," Duffy said, "and that's just something that happens. You just don't have it every time you go out there. I didn't have it today. I didn't set this team up even in shouting distance."
Duffy recorded just three outs Wednesday night, the shortest outing of his career not interrupted by injury. The left-hander surrendered four runs on six hits and threw 45 pitches.
After the wild pitch, Duffy would coax Moss into a groundout that ended the first inning. But it would be the last batter he would retire.
"He just never got on track," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Never got in sync. Never got on a roll."
Five Cleveland batters faced Duffy in the second inning, and all five reached. He gave up hits to Nick Swisher, Lonnie Chisenhall, Brett Hayes and Jason Kipnis, and plunked Mike Aviles with a curveball. Duffy departed without an out in the second and with men on first and second, Yost opting for a reliever to stop the bleeding.
Brandon Finnegan used seven pitches to escape the inning, but Duffy's wreckage remained. The Royals had a four-run hole to dig out of.
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"By the time I came out of the game, it was a pretty significant deficit," Duffy said. "It's very frustrating, but if you sit here and dwell on something, the season's going to take off and you're not going to go with it."
Yost said it had "been a while" since he had seen Duffy pitch like he did Wednesday night.
"He just looked out of sorts to me," Yost said. "He just could not find his rhythm and it didn't look to him that he was going to find it."
Duffy's shaky start comes an appearance after his best one of the season. Last Thursday, Duffy twirled seven innings of one-run ball, delivering the most impressive start by a Royals starter this season. But six days later, Duffy's command seemed absent -- he hit two batters -- as he stumbled to perhaps the worst game of his career.
Wednesday's abbreviated outing caused Duffy's innings per start to plummet below five and his ERA to balloon to 4.55. His last start saved the bullpen, but Wednesday's taxed the relief corps.
Duffy even said people in the dugout were asking him if he was OK physically, worried that an ailment was to blame for a poor outing. But Duffy said he hasn't felt better.
"I just didn't have my stuff tonight, and it's a weird feeling," Duffy said. "I haven't had that feeling in a long time, but it happens to everybody and it'll happen again at some point in my career. I just try to keep those starts few and far between."
Finnegan, Chris Young, Franklin Morales, Kelvin Herrera and Jason Frasor combined for the final eight innings. It was the most the Royals' pen has been worked since Sept. 6 of last season, when Duffy threw one pitch before leaving with an injury.
Kansas City cut Cleveland's lead to two runs after Eric Hosmer's RBI double in the sixth inning but could get no closer. Morales surrendered four runs in the top of the seventh inning, dismissing any thought of a Royals comeback and sealing Kansas City's third loss in four games.
Kendrys Morales guided a two-run home run out to right-center field, perhaps aided by the strong wind at Kauffman Stadium. It was Morales' fourth home run of the season and he now has 12 RBIs in his last eight games. Morales' power was just about the only thing that went right for Kansas City.
"Not a whole lot to write home about tonight," Yost said.
You can follow Matthew DeFranks on Twitter at @MDeFranks or email him at matthew.defranks@gmail.com.
