KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Danny Duffy scattered four hits while pitching into the seventh inning, the Royals scratched out three runs off the Rangers' Yu Darvish, and Kansas City beat Texas 3-1 on Friday night to open their three-game series.
The only run Duffy (6-1) allowed came on Rougned Odor's homer in the fourth inning. The left-hander struck out four and walked two on a steamy evening where the heat index at first pitch was 108 degrees.
Luke Hochevar wiggled out of Duffy's jam to end the seventh, Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect eighth and Wade Davis worked around a two-out single in the ninth for his 21st save.
The victory, one day after the Royals (48-47) visited the White House to celebrate their World Series title, kept them from dropping below .500 for the first time since beating Boston on May 17.
Darvish (2-2) nearly matched Duffy in his third start off the disabled list. He allowed single runs in each of the first three innings, struck out 11 and made only one big mistake — Cheslor Cuthbert's home run.
Still, it wasn't good enough to keep the AL West-leading Rangers from losing for the eighth time in nine games. The slide has been marked by poor pitching, inconsistent hitting and a series of devastating injuries — sluggers Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo went on the DL earlier this week.
Without them, the Rangers certainly struggled to create scoring chances Friday night.
Duffy carved through the lineup without allowing a hit the first time through, the only baserunner a walk to Elvis Andrus. He went on to load the bases on a single and hit batter in the third inning, but Duffy calmly struck out Ian Desmond on three pitches to leave them stranded.
His only other trouble came when he put runners on the corners with two outs in the seventh, forcing Hochevar in from the bullpen. He got pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland on a liner to preserve a 3-1 lead.
They built it in typical Royals fashion: They scored a run in the first on a single, stolen base, error and groundout then scored again in the second on a walk, stolen base and consecutive singles.
It wasn't until Cuthbert went deep leading off the third that they made Darvish look fallible.
ASTROS 2, ANGELS 1 Lance McCullers struck out 10 in eight-plus solid innings and Will Harris finished off the ninth to lead the Houston Astros to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night. McCullers was lifted for Harris after walking Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout with no outs in the ninth. Carlos Correa saved a run when he dived to stop a grounder hit by Daniel Nava and tossed the ball to second for a force for the second out. An RBI single by Andrelton Simmons came next to get the Angels within one, but Harris struck out Ji-Man Choi for his 10th save.
ORIOLES 5, INDIANS 1 After watching Trevor Bauer struggle through another outing, Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona wondered what happened to the pitcher who went unbeaten from late May through early July. Bauer gave up five runs before being yanked in the fifth inning Friday night in a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. It was the first time this season that Bauer (7-4) surrendered two homers in a game, and the third straight start in which he allowed at least four runs.
MARINERS 2, BLUE JAYS 1 After going almost three weeks between starts, Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada felt a little out of sorts against Seattle. James Paxton pitched seven strong innings to win for the first time in three starts, Seth Smith doubled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and the Mariners beat the Blue Jays 2-1 on Friday night, snapping Toronto’s winning streak at three. Estrada (5-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings. Estrada, who is winless in four starts, had surrendered five hits or fewer in his previous 13 outings.
TWINS 2, RED SOX 1 The Red Sox’s torrid hitting pace continued, but only for one inning. Boston got a leadoff home run for the second straight night from Mookie Betts, but didn’t score again as Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson held the Red Sox to a pair of hits over eight innings and the Twins held on for a 2-1 win Friday night. Betts’ 20th homer and a one-out single by Xander Bogaerts were Boston’s only hits until the Red Sox threatened in the bottom of the ninth. After getting 33 hits in their previous two games, 17 of them Thursday in a 13-2 rout of the Twins, the Red Sox had just four hits Friday. Brian Dozier hit a solo home run for the Twins in the second inning and Miguel Sano added an RBI single in the sixth. It was all the scoring Minnesota needed as Gibson (3-6) did the rest.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PHILLIES 4, PIRATES 0 In his second start since coming off the disabled list, Gerrit Cole felt more like himself. It still wasn’t enough to outpitch Zach Eflin. Eflin threw his first major-league shutout to overshadow Cole’s six strong innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 Friday night. Cole allowed one run on six hits with seven strikeouts over six innings for Pittsburgh, which entered with the majors’ best record since June 24.
PADRES 5, NATIONALS 3 Starter Tanner Roark was outpitched by rookie Luis Perdomo, Matt Kemp homered twice and drove in four runs, and the San Diego Padres beat the Nationals 5-3 on Friday night. Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy homered, but the Nationals managed just four other hits as they lost for the fourth time in five games. Kemp hit a solo shot in the first inning and gave San Diego the lead for good with a three-run homer in the fifth. He has six homers in his last six games and the Padres have homered in 20 straight, the longest streak in the National League this season.
Friday’s games