Royals Report: Danny Duffy Dominates Cardinals In 6-2 Win

The Royals won their second straight game Monday night, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 in the first of four consecutive games against their cross-state inter-league rival.

The Kansas City Royals improved to 40-35, remaining five games behind AL Central leader Cleveland who won their 10th straight game Monday. The Cardinals fell to 39-36 and 10 games behind NL Central leader Chicago Cubs.

The KC Royals recovered from a tough first inning in which the Cardinals seized a 2-0 lead on a two-run home run by Matt Holliday. The Kansas City Royals responded with a two-RBI single from Kendrys Morales in the bottom half of the inning to knot the score at 2-2, then added a four-run rally in the second to take control of the game.

The KC Royals continue to gyrate between winning and losing streaks. Their current two game string followed four straight losses. Earlier in the season, the Kansas City Royals sandwiched an eight game losing streak with between a six game winning streak and a five game run. Let’s hope the Royals can continue the trend by rolling over the Cardinals for the next three games.

On to my observations about Monday’s game:

Next: Danny Duffy

4) Danny Duffy Showed His Growing Maturity

The 27-year-old Duffy appears to be taking over the no. 1 rotation role for the KC Royals after beginning the season as a reliever. Duffy did a fabulous job recovering from giving up a two-run bomb in the first to last 8.0 innings while striking out 8. He held the Cardinals scoreless after their first inning outburst and is now regularly lasting deep into games.

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That’s the kind of thing you expect from a staff ace.

The most impressive development of Danny Duffy’s game this season has been his transformation from nibbler to pitcher that attacks the plate with 97 mph heat. Dialing up his fastball by around 2 mph as a reliever, he stuck with the approach after moving back to the rotation.

The increased velocity has allowed Duffy to stop trying to hit the black and instead make sure to get ahead in early counts. This change has allowed him to reduce the number of pitches in an inning. For example, on Monday night, Duffy needed only 101 pitches to last through eight frames.

If Duffy keeps it up, he could end up being a guy that can carry a team in the post-season. He’s not quite there yet, but he keeps taking steps in that direction and has the raw stuff to become that kind of pitcher.

Next: Whit Merrifield

3) Are Teams Figuring Whit Merrifield Out?

The last two games, Whit Merrifield has gone 2 for 9 with six strikeouts against Houston’s Doug Fister and St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright. Though Merrifield is still slashing an impressive .317/.340/.441, I’m beginning to wonder if major-league pitchers have identified a hole in his swing.

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It’s not entirely unusual for a veteran player to strike out three times in a game, or even to do so twice in a row. But, it’s another thing for a young rookie in his first months in the big leagues to do the same thing after a hot start to his career.

In the latter case, it’s much more likely a sign that teams have begun to figure out how to attack the young player at the plate. Typically, pitchers will go after rookies and force them to show can hit big league stuff. When the rookie establishes that he’s got the chops to hit strikes, THEN pitchers will begin to try fooling him with off-speed stuff or hitting the edges.

Often, the hot start fades as a player’s weaknesses become known.

That’s when the young player either sinks or swims. They’ll have to adjust to changed patterns. If they can do it, they’ll stick. If they can’t, they’ll sink to marginal status or even bounce out of the game. Merrifield’s conditioning program to increase his strength and his adjustment with his top hand case propelled him from a nondescript minor-league utility man into a major-league regular. Now we’ll see if Merrifield can stick around for the long-term.

Maybe Merrifield really is a lead-off hitter at the big league level. Maybe he’s a bottom of the lineup guy, but can still hold down a  regular job. Or, Merrifield might be no more than a utility guy that sticks due to his ability to play almost every position on the field.

Next: Kendrys Morales

1) Alcides Escobar Thriving At The Bottom Of The Order

First, Whit Merrifield displaced Escobar as the team’s leadoff hitter when the Royals scored a mere four runs in six games during their eight-game losing skid. Next, Alex Gordon’s return on Saturday pushed Escobar out of the no. 2 position in the lineup down to no. 8.

Very quietly, the struggling Escobar has turned things around at the plate as he has moved down in the order. Escobar is riding an eight-game hitting streak, and has five multi-hit games in that span—including Monday’s 2 for 4 performance. Escobar’s hitting string is now the longest active streak on the team after the Cardinals snapped Paulo Orlando‘s 10 game run on Monday.

Alcides Escobar has boosted his batting average from .240 to .258 during his streak, improving his triple slash to .258/.281/.314.

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Escobar is still one of the lightest-hitting regulars in baseball, but at least he’s contributing a bit more over the last week. He’s never going to be a guy that carries an offense, but he’ll help out the offense if he can be something more than a black hole in the lineup.