The Czar of Gnar was in top form again today, pitching into the fifth inning of Kansas City's 2-1 victory against the White Sox Saturday afternoon. Lorenzo Cain rocked away on a full count fastball, his sixth of the season, which ended up being the margin of victory.
Danny Duffy threw 4.1 scoreless innings, yielding just four hits and zero walks while striking out three. He threw 63 pitches on the afternoon, 46 of which were strikes. It was the second straight encouraging start for Duffy, who continues to get stretched out after starting the season in the bullpen. He has now gone seven innings with two walks and eight strikeouts, giving up just five hits.
For his part, Miguel Gonzalez pitched more effectively than he has the the rest of the year. The Royals refused to walk on the afternoon while continuing their disturbing trend of striking out a lot. Gonzalez recorded eight strikeouts in six innings, giving up a run on a sacrifice fly by Eric Hosmer in the first inning that scored Alcides Escobar. He stifled the Royals for the next five innings until Cain's home run.
Peter Moylan relieved Duffy, going 1.2 innings with two strikeouts. Brian Flynn yielded the only run for Chicago on the afternoon. After coming on for Moylan in the seventh, he walked Dioner Navarro and gave up a single to Tyler Saladino. Navarro eventually came around to score on a ground ball double play by Jose Abreu.
Joakim Soria pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.
Wade Davis came on for the save, his eleventh on the season.
Tomorrow, Kansas City goes for the sweep against a slumping first place Chicago team. Yordano Ventura (4-2, 4.85 ERA) faces off against Carlos Rodon (1-4, 4.73). It will be the first time that Ventura has faced the White Sox since Adam Eaton called him a bad name (which Ventura wasn't particularly happy about) and Jeff Samardzija tried to fight Lorenzo Cain.