Royals Report: Friday’s Win And Hanging With The President

The Royals pulled off a vintage win on Friday night, defeating the Texas Rangers 3-1 behind a strong start from ace Danny Duffy and a flawless finish from the back end of the bullpen.

The Kansas City Royals improved to 48-47 with their 3-1 victory, and gained ground to pull within 8.0 games of AL Central leader Cleveland. The Rangers fell to 55-42, but still lead the AL West by 3.0 games over the Astros pending the results of Friday’s games.

The KC Royals scratched for single runs in each of the first three innings, then hung on to win 3-1. In the first inning, the Royals exploited a throwing error from Rangers backup catcher Bobby Wilson on Alcides Escobar‘s stolen base in the first inning. The miscue allowed Escobar to advance to third and score on Eric Hosmer ground ball to first base.

In the second, Alex Gordon walked, stole second, and scored when Paulo Orlando and Whit Merrifield connected for consecutive singles.

In the third, Cheslor Cuthbert hit a solo shot to put the Kansas City Royals up 3-0.

Those three runs were all Danny Duffy needed to secure the win on a night where the KC Royals followed their ace’s strong start with successive scoreless outings from Luke Hochevar, Kelvin Herrera, and closer Wade Davis.

On the day after the Kansas City Royals were honored at the White House for their 2015 World Championship, the team seemed to remember how they won the title. Let’s hope the win and the visit can trigger a much-needed winning streak to turn around a tough July.

The KC Royals are now 6-11 in the month.

On to my observations about Friday night’s game:

Next: Danny Duffy