Duffy gives Royals' rotation a needed lift

This is the ace the Royals hoped left-hander Danny Duffy would turn into in 2020.

Duffy delivered six strong innings -- the first Kansas City starter to go that deep into a game this season -- but it wasn’t enough for the Royals in a 2-0 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday night. The Royals have lost four straight.

“He showed why he’s the guy we wanted to give to the ball to the first day of the season,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He threw the ball like an ace of a staff.”

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For the first time in franchise history, the Royals had been unable to have a starter pitch into the sixth inning through a season’s first 10 games. That streak mercifully came to an end thanks to Duffy. He gave up three hits and one run, walked four and struck out six.

“That is as good as I’ve seen Duff, as far as his fastball command,” Matheny said. “He had the changeup going today, that was really good. That’s exactly what we needed. He was fantastic. It’s a shame we couldn’t scratch a couple of runs for him.”

It was clear early on that Duffy had solid fastball command, which allowed his changeup to keep Cubs hitters off balance. Duffy threw 19 changeups and got four swings and misses and four called strikes. He also got four swings and misses off his 16 sliders.

Duffy did run into trouble in the fifth inning. He walked Nico Hoerner, gave up a single to Ian Happ and then walked Kris Bryant to load the bases with none out. But Duffy jammed Anthony Rizzo on a 2-1 fastball and got a popup. One run scored on a sacrifice fly, but Duffy then got Willson Contreras to ground out.

“I think damage control is pretty crucial in this game,” Duffy said. “When you can limit the damage like we did in that fifth inning, that’s a good thing. That’s a dangerous lineup over there.

“Outside of the fifth, I felt I was putting the ball wherever I wanted to. I had good changes of speeds, good leg kicks, different leg kicks, different slide steps, everything was working.”

Matheny had no intention of taking Duffy out in the fifth.

“That was impressive in the fifth,” Matheny said. “Getting a popup. One sacrifice fly, as you’re marching through that lineup, that was really good. He was the guy we wanted on the mound then.”

The eighth inning also saw an impressive relief performance from Royals right-hander Josh Staumont. He struck out Javier Báez, Contreras and Kyle Schwarber in succession without allowing a baserunner.

Meanwhile, the Royals’ offense continued its struggles, and has been shut out for 13 straight innings. Kansas City managed just five hits and was 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position -- the Royals came into the game hitting just .231 with runners in scoring position.

Matheny conceded that while Cubs starter Alec Mills was effective mixing speeds on Monday, the Royals’ offense is primarily stuck.

“That’s fair,” Matheny said. “Trying to stack a couple of hits together, and it’s been tough. It’s frustrating because we know the potential this group has. When we get that kind of pitching and that kind of defense … it’s just hard right now getting consecutive hits.”