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 The Royals hit three home runs in the game and scored eight runs
in the fifth inning to help Duffy to his first victory since June
30, a 12-2 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on
Tuesday.
"You sit there for 45 minutes and watch a team put up runs, it's
awesome," Duffy said. "You can go back up there and be that much
more comfortable on the mound. You can throw your fastball and make
pitches."
Right fielder Nori Aoki hit a grand slam and first baseman Billy
Butler added a three-run homer in the fifth inning after catcher
Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer in the third for the big
cushion.
"Any time you score 10 runs off three swings of the bat, you'll take
it," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said.
The Royals (58-53) scored eight runs when Duffy was in the game in
his previous eight starts combined.
"I knew my bros were going to come through, and they came through,"
Duffy said. "That shows you what our offense is capable of. I feel
like we are going to get on a roll from here."
Duffy (6-10) allowed one run and struck out seven in five innings to
lower his ERA to 2.39, which would rank third in the American League
if he had enough innings to qualify. He joined the rotation May 3
and is two innings short.
"My mindset today, I wasn't going to take Danny much past 100
pitches," Yost said. "We had the big lead. Guys down there (bullpen)
hadn't pitched in a while. Just wanted to do it that way."
Duffy exited after 94 pitches.
Left fielder Mark Trumbo had two hits and an RBI, and second baseman
Didi Gregorious drove in a run with a groundout for Arizona, which
lost for the third time in four games.
The Diamondbacks (49-64) got only five hits off Duffy and three
Kansas City relievers.
Butler had four hits and three RBIs, and Perez contributed three
hits and three RBIs for the Royals, who won for the fourth time in
five games and the 10th time in 13 to stay one game out of the
second AL wild-card position.
Butler, Aoki, Perez and shortstop Alcides Escobar scored two runs
apiece.
"Our pitching has picked us up all year, and for us to give Duffy
some support like that, especially a guy like that who we haven't
given any to, it's big for us," Butler said. "It was a good way to
start the series."
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Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon went 2-for-5 and became the 10th
player in franchise history to reach 1,000 hits, ending the night with
1,001. Hall of Famer George Brett has a franchise-record 3,154 hits.
"He's been one of the biggest pieces in this organization since the
moment I got here," Yost said.
Arizona left-hander Wade Miley (7-8) gave up nine hits and 10 runs in 4
2/3 innings.
"I flat-out sucked," Miley said. "Games like that really get out of
hand. You can't have that. That one is on me. It was a bad day.
Everything I threw was in the middle of the plate. You can't find
success up here when you are living in the middle of the plate."
NOTES: Kansas City LF Alex Gordon held Arizona LF Mark Trumbo to a long
single on a ball that struck the fence. Gordon has six assists this
season and 60 since the start of 2011, 15 more than any other
outfielder. ... Royals RHP Wade Davis gave up one run in his past 37
innings, dating to April 26. That works out to a 0.24 ERA for the setup
man over that span. ... Arizona rookies played an NL-high 364 games
entering Tuesday's action, according to STATS, LLC. A trio of rookies --
CF Ender Inciarte, RF Alfredo Marte and SS Nick Ahmed -- started
Tuesday. ... Kansas City owns a 9-4 record in interleague play, 5-1 in
games played without a DH in National League parks. After the last two
games in Arizona, the Royals have two interleague series remaining,
against San Francisco (three games) at home and at Colorado (two games).
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