Duffy Wins ALDS Opener

LLR Male Athlete of the Year (2007) - Danny Duffy

After being sent to the bullpen to start this series, Lompoc resident and Cabrillo HS graduate Danny Duffy was the winning pitcher of Thursday night's ALDS Game 1.  

The 7th of 8 hurlers used by the Kansas City Royals in a 3-2 victory over the Angels at Anaheim Stadium, he pitched the 10th inning of  what was then a 2-2 tie.  Mike Moustakis then hit a homer in the top of 11th to give the visitors the lead, and closer Greg Holland nailed down the game in the bottom half for the save.

In his inning of work, Duffy faced a formidable contingent of a Angel hitters, After allowing a single to left by Kole Calhoun, he was able to get MVP front-runner Mike Trout to ground into a force at 2nd base.  The force out being made possible, in part, by Duffy's ability to keep Calhoun from stealing the base. After Trout's grounder to short, Duffy retired Albert Puhols on a pop-up to 1st, and struck out Howie Kendrick.  

Duffy faced 4 batters, throwing 19 pitches (13 strikes). He struck out 1, walked none, allowed 1 hit and no runs. It was his 1st ever MLB playoff action. He had a 2.53 ERA in just under 150 innings in the regular season.

The starter, Jason Vargas, went a strong 6 innings - surrendering a pair of runs on 3 hits and a couple of walks. Nori Aoki keyed a fine defense performance by KC with two outstanding catches in the 6th & 7th.