Kansas City Royals Bullpen Shines in 3-2 Victory

It may not have been pretty, but the Kansas City Royals jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles tonight.

Kansas City got the offense going against Baltimore starter Miguel Gonzalez in the bottom of the second. Kendrys Morales led off the inning by crushing a pitch into the second tier of the fountains in right center to put the Royals on top 1-0. Mike Moustakas followed with a double, but was stranded on second as Gonzalez escaped further damage.

The Royals got to Gonzalez again in the third. After a one out walk and a base hit put runners at the corners, Eric Hosmer grounded out to short, scoring a run. After another walk, Moustakas took the 2-2 to left for an RBI single, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead.

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To that point, Danny Duffy had been cruising right along, but he ran in to trouble in the top of the fourth. After two quick outs, Duffy issues a walk and a base hit, putting runners at the corners. Jonathan Schoop grounded a single past Alcides Escobar to put the Orioles on the board, and Caleb Joseph followed with a base hit to center to cut the lead to one. Cain bobbled the ball to allow Joseph to take second, but Duffy was able to get Paul Janish to ground out on the next pitch to end the threat.

Baltimore had another scoring opportunity in the top of the sixth, putting runners on the corners with two out. Ned Yost went to the bullpen, bringing in Luke Hochevar, who got Joseph to fly out to right to end the threat and preserve the lead.

The Royals bullpen did the rest, as Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis followed Hochevar to preserve the 3-2 victory. Duffy earned the win, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks, striking out five in 5.2 innings of work.

Mike Moustakas was 2-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI in the win.

Next: Royals Trying to Keep the Party Going Past 2015

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