Greatest Royals pitching performances

KANSAS CITY -- You don’t have to be an all-time Royals great to have an all-time great game for the Royals -- although some of the greats have certainly had standout performances. One legendary game can put a player in the record books and provide a lifetime of memories, no matter the season or career he went on to have.

Here are five of the most dominant pitching performances in Royals history:

1. Sept. 15, 1995: Kevin Appier vs. Angels

Key fact: Struck out 13 in a shutout

In a “Superman”-like performance, as longtime sportswriter Dick Kaegel put it in the Kansas City Star the next day, Appier shut down the California Angels in Anaheim in mid-September, keeping the Royals within two games of the leading Mariners in the battle for the Wild Card that year. Appier, one of the best pitchers in franchise history, allowed just three hits in nine innings in the Royals’ 5-0 win, with 13 strikeouts and one walk. According to Bill James’ game score algorithm for pitchers, Appier’s 93 on this day ranks third in Royals history.

In his previous start, Appier only went 4 2/3 innings against Seattle because he wasn’t feeling well. But on Sept. 15, he sailed smoothly. No Angels hitter reached second base against Appier. Garret Anderson got a single off Appier’s glove in the second inning and another infield hit in the seventh, and pinch-hitter Spike Owen led off the sixth with a single. That was it, as Appier recorded his eighth shutout for the Royals at that point in his career and his 13th game with 10 or more strikeouts.

2. Aug. 1, 2016: Danny Duffy vs. Rays

Key fact: Set a club record with 16 strikeouts

One of Duffy’s best games as a Royal -- at least so far -- came in 2016 in St. Petersburg, when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, struck out a club-record 16 and simply dominated Tampa Bay in every way. Desmond Jennings’ double to deep left field to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning was the Rays’ only hit off Duffy, and the lefty finished off the inning with a lineout and two more strikeouts to make history in his own right. Jennings was the second baserunner of the night -- Duffy walked Logan Forsythe in the bottom of the fourth, and he went to third on Duffy’s throwing error while attempting to pick him off. But Duffy got Steven Souza Jr. to strike out swinging to leave Forsythe stranded.

"I've seen a few that good," former Royals manager Ned Yost said postgame that day. "But not many. He was just electric tonight. He had everything going, seven innings of no-hit baseball and eight innings, 16 punchouts, one walk. It was special."

3. May 24, 1972: Dick Drago vs. the Twins

Key fact: Struck out 13 in 12 innings

On May 25, 1972, Kansas City Star sportswriter Gib Twyman wrote that Drago’s performance against the Twins “must” rank as one of the best pitching performances in “18 years of Kansas City pitching.”

It still does.

Drago dominated the Twins with what was then a club record 13 strikeouts in a pitching duel with Jim Kaat that went into extra innings with a scoreless tie. Drago’s 98 game score ranks first in Royals history as he worked around six hits and one walk in 12 innings, and he had eight 1-2-3 frames.

All that, and he lost. Drago allowed a leadoff double to Danny Thompson, and Rod Carew brought him in for what was the winning run in the top of the 12th. The Royals went down in order in the bottom of the 12th after putting the leadoff man on in the 10th and 11th innings. The loss stung in 1972, but Drago’s name is still in the record books.

4. Aug. 26, 1991: Bret Saberhagen vs. White Sox

Key fact: The Royals’ fourth no-hitter in club history

The Royals have had four no-hitters, and all deserve to be on this list. A no-hitter is a huge accomplishment that many pitchers try to achieve their entire careers, so a special shoutout goes to Steve Busby (twice -- April 27, 1973, and June 19, 1974) and Jim Colborn (May 14, 1977) for their place in Royals history.

But to make this list a wide variety, we decided to pick just one no-hitter, and that goes to Saberhagen in 1991 -- the most recent no-hitter in Kansas City history. In the Royals’ 7-0 win over the White Sox at Royals Stadium, Saberhagen walked two and struck out five batters during the history-making night.

The Royals Hall of Famer had a feeling by the second inning that his control and velocity were on another level. With one out in the fifth, Dan Pasqua lifted a deep drive to left-center field. Kirk Gibson ran hard and appeared to catch up with the ball, but at the last moment, the ball skipped off the top of his glove. The scoreboard immediately registered a hit, but official scorer Del Black would not make a decision until viewing several replays -- and then ruled the play an error. When the scoreboard corrected, the crowd cheered, and Saberhagen sensed the no-hitter was alive.

“I didn’t turn back to see,” Saberhagen said after the game. “But when I got back to the dugout, Gibbie came up to me and said, ‘Now that they threw an error up there, you better throw a no-hitter.’”

5. Sept. 16, 1988: Mark Gubicza vs. the A’s

Key fact: Shutout with two hits and no walks

In 1988, the right-hander won 20 games for the first time, throwing 270 innings with a 2.70 ERA. He was dominant that year, and one of his best starts came on Sept. 16 against Oakland. The Royals won, 3-0, behind Gubicza’s two-hit shutout. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter, throwing 120 pitches -- 72 of those strikes.

Gubicza had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Dave Parker and Ron Hassey hit back-to-back singles. Gubicza got out of the inning with a double play and a fly ball -- and those were the only two baserunners of the night for Oakland until the bottom of the ninth, when Gubicza hit Walt Weiss with a pitch. Gubicza squelched any sort of rally the A’s thought they had -- getting a fly ball, a foul out and a strikeout swinging to end the game, giving him a 91 game score.