Duffy’s gem wasted in Kansas City Royals loss

A disappointing series-opening loss to Baltimore exposed a few issues with the Kansas City Royals. Nothing that won’t be cleared up by Tuesday though.

So for all the yim-yammering about Melky Cabrera shoring up the offense and the Padres trade which brought a fresh reinforcement of arms, the first post-deadline contest couldn’t bear out that either of those things were particularly improved.

And then we take a deep breath and remember there’s still two months left in this thing for the Kansas City Royals.

The bad news is that the Royals eked out five hits, one run and did not put a runner in scoring position after the third inning. The good news is that there are two more games in this series and 58 remaining in the regular season.

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This is going to be a brief recap because I don’t have the time or the inclination to go over this garbage fire. Eric Hosmer doubled home Lorenzo Cain in the first inning and that was it offensively. The entire team had as many extra base hits as double plays, and it’s going to be tough to win in that climate.

That this happened with Ubaldo Jimenez and his six-plus ERA on the mound was disturbing. Jimenez turned it back to 2010 with a dominant seven innings, striking out six—including the side in the fifth—for his second quality start in as many outings.

Danny Duffy was no slouch for the Kansas City Royals, scattering seven hits and striking out six over seven innings of his own. The only Orioles run against Duffy came across via Jonathan Schoop single, which brought home Manny Machado in the fifth.

For what seems like the first time since he came back off the DL, Duffy had an opposite number on the mound that his offense by rights should’ve tagged for multiple runs on Monday night, and they didn’t get it done. Which makes it tough to completely scapegoat Joakim Soria for earning the loss. With Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter in the fold, you’d think Soria wouldn’t be earning the high-leverage work anymore, yet there he was starting the ninth in a tie game.

The Orioles made the Royals pay with a trio of singles. Caleb Joseph got the ball rolling with a one-out knock up the middle and moved to second on a Ruben Tejada knock. Craig Gentry’s grounder up the middle scored Joseph for the winning run—and maybe one of these balls was hard-hit. Demoralizing, but not necessarily surprising.

Oh, and new acquisition Melky Cabrera?

He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

LoCain robbed a homer though, so that was cool.

Next: Melky the right move

Tuesday is a new day though and hopefully it will involve Ian Kennedy beating Dylan Bundy. Action kicks off at 6:05 p.m. (CT).