A handful of days ago, Royals left-hander Danny Duffy stood in front of his Kauffman Stadium locker and paused for a half-second to make mental calculations.
The Royals had just lost his third start of the year. Their record had fallen to 3-7.
“We’ve lost all three of my starts and we could have easily won them,” he said. “We could easily be 6-4 — wow. That’s a teller.”
There was a germ of truth to his statement. If Duffy hadn’t given up a big inning in each of his starts — five runs to the White Sox in the fourth on March 29, three in the first to the Indians on April 6 and two to the Mariners in the first on Wednesday — the Royals might be better off.