Limited to one pitch in his last outing, Danny Duffy returned to help the Kansas City Royals gain ground in the AL Central, tossing six scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
Duffy (9-11) pitched for the first time since Sept. 6, when he departed against the New York Yankees because of tightness in his left shoulder. He got into some early trouble Monday night, but held the Indians to six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar both knocked in a run for Kansas City, which moved to within a game of the division-leading Detroit Tigers.
Carlos Carrasco (8-6) gave up two runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out nine in 7 1/3 innings for Cleveland.
Before this game, the teams completed a suspended game from last month. The Indians held on for a 4-3 victory, but the loss in the opener of a scheduled three-game set saw them fall back to 3 1/2 games behind the Royals for the AL's second wild-card spot.
[SportsNetwork.com]
