Duffy, Royals burned by HRs on Opening Day

Duffy, Royals burned by HRs on Opening Day

March 29th, 2018

KANSAS CITY -- For three innings, all seemed right for left-hander Danny Duffy and the Royals, who staked him to a four-run lead on Thursday. But after striking out five through three scoreless innings, Duffy was roughed up for five runs in the fourth and the White Sox never looked back, cruising to a 14-7 win on Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium.
Duffy went four innings and gave up seven hits and five runs. He threw 78 pitches.
But the bigger question, obviously, is Duffy's health. Duffy left his last Spring Training start with shoulder tightness. But Duffy reported the shoulder was fine.
"It's all good," Duffy said. "I felt like I had a couple more innings in me. I obviously wanted to go back out there [in the fifth], but they were being cautious. I just didn't have it in that fourth inning.

"Any time you have a 4-0 lead with me on the mound, you think you get a win out of that. I'm better than that."
But the Royals were no match for the power of the White Sox, who tied an Opening Day record with six home runs -- three by Matt Davidson. Davidson became the fourth player to hit three homers on Opening Day.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Sox dig the long ball: A 4-0 deficit quickly turned into a 5-4 White Sox lead in the fourth courtesy of South Side power. started the scoring with a two-run homer off Duffy and Davidson then gave the Sox their first back-to-back homers in franchise history on Opening Day to cut the lead to 4-3. tied the game three batters later, before 's double put Chicago in front to stay. More >

Duda goes deep: First baseman , who signed during Spring Training, belted a three-run home run in the first inning, becoming the first player to homer in his first at-bat with the Royals since in 2012. Duda hit a 2-0 cutter from Shields a projected 410 feet from the plate, according to Statcast™, into the right-center-field seats, giving Kansas City a 4-0 lead at the time. More >
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The only other team to hit six home runs on Opening Day was the 1988 Mets, who accomplished the feat against Montreal.

KELLER, HILL MAKE DEBUTS
Royals right-hander , a Rule 5 Draft acquisition, made his Major League debut in the sixth inning. Keller put the White Sox down in order, and he struck out one.
Left-hander also made his MLB debut in the seventh. Hill came on with one out and one on and hit the first batter he faced. He then got a weak groundout before exiting.
WHAT'S NEXT
White Sox: makes his season debut in the middle game against the Royals at 6:15 p.m. CT on Saturday. The right-hander posted a 2.38 ERA over seven starts for the White Sox last season.
Royals: Right-hander will get the start against the White Sox on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium. Kennedy went 5-13 with a 5.38 ERA in 2017. He posted a 7.65 ERA in four starts against the White Sox.
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