KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Duffy carried a perfect game into the seventh inning, Billy Butler drove in the only run and the Kansas City Royals held on to beat the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 Saturday night.

The 25-year-old Duffy (2-3) retired the first 20 batters he faced, rarely running the count to three balls and flirting with the first perfect game in franchise history. Adam Jones finally ended it with a weak ground ball up the middle with two outs in the seventh.

Duffy bounced back to get Chris Davis on a fly out to end the inning, then gave up a single to Nelson Cruz to start the eighth. Wade Davis retired the next three batters, and All-Star closer Greg Holland survived a bases-loaded jam in the ninth for his 11th save.

Holland allowed a hit and two walks before striking out Cruz to end the game.

Bud Norris (2-4) was the hard-luck loser, allowing four hits and a walk in 7⅓ innings.

The lone run he allowed came in the first, when Norichika Aoki led off with a single, stole second and then scored on Butler’s single to center. The hit ended an 0-for-10 slump, and gave Kansas City only its second run in the first three games of the four-game set.

Duffy missed most of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he began this season in the bullpen after losing the competition for a rotation spot in spring training. But he was forced back into the rotation a few weeks ago, when Bruce Chen landed on the disabled list with a back injury, and has pitched so well that he may have claimed the spot for good.

After struggling with control most of his first three seasons, Duffy has finally started to harness his stuff. He allowed one run on two hits in four innings in his first start May 3 against Detroit, and one run on two hits in six innings last week in Seattle.

He wound up losing both games when the Royals failed to score a run for him.

Perhaps with that in mind, Duffy kept the Orioles off the scoreboard entirely. He never got close to allowing a hit until Caleb Joseph hit a liner at third baseman Mike Moustakas to end the sixth inning, and Alex Gordon made a spectacular diving catch on Nick Markakis’s fly ball to lead off the seventh. Duffy then struck out Manny Machado before Jones delivered his single.

The crowd gave Duffy a standing ovation after the hit, and then another when he exited the game. Duffy sheepishly waved his cap in appreciation as he entered the dugout.

After dealing with a stiff neck, Davis returned to breeze through the rest of the eighth.

Holland put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth, and then struck out Jones moments after manager Ned Yost was tossed by plate umpire Chris Segal for arguing what he thought was strike three. Holland walked Davis to load the bases before striking out Cruz to end it.

The Royals have had four no-hitters in franchise history, the last by Brett Saberhagen against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 26, 1991. The Orioles have not been no-hit since Sept. 1, 2007, when Clay Buchholz accomplished the feat for the Boston Red Sox.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chris Tillman paid no attention to the Baltimore bullpen as it started to stir in the ninth inning. After all, he had made it this far before. There was no way he was leaving the game now.

So after a leadoff single to start the inning, Tillman bore down against the Kansas City Royals. The young right-hander induced three straight groundouts to end the game, wrapping up a 4-0 victory for the Orioles and giving Tillman his first career shutout.

“I’ll take more of them,” he said, “but that’s not my goal.”

Maybe not. But it sure is nice.

Tillman came within two outs of a nine-inning complete game earlier this season, and he was incensed when he was pulled from an eventual 3-1 win over Detroit. He hadn’t been any happier of late, either, after scuffling through his last five outings.

But behind a dastardly combination of curveballs, changeups and fastballs, Tillman (4-2) kept the offensively inept Royals off balance. He scattered five hits and a walk, his dominant outing coming one night after Wei-Yin Chen and four relievers combined to beat Kansas City 2-1.

Chris Davis homered and Steve Clevenger also drove in a run for the Orioles.

“This is Tillman’s night,” the Royals’ Billy Butler said. “You’ve got to give him credit. He did his job today. He was locating, throwing all of his pitches. He did a heck of a job.”

Jeremy Guthrie (2-3) bounced back from a lousy start to last eight innings against his former team. The Royals’ starter allowed four runs, eight hits and a walk while striking out two.

While falling to 0-3 with four no-decisions in his last seven starts, Guthrie at least was able to save a bullpen that had been chewed up in that close loss the previous night.

“He threw the ball well. He really did,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

As for that offense, which has managed one run in the last two games?

“Offenses heat up, cool off,” Yost said. “Right now we don’t have anybody where I can sit back and say this boy is really swinging the bat well right now.”

The game was played in a brisk 2 hours, 22 minutes, mostly because the starters were so effective. Tillman retired 13 of 14 batters after giving up a double to Norichika Aoki to start the game, and Guthrie only allowed a single by J.J. Hardy over the first three innings.

Baltimore finally got to Guthrie in the fourth, and it was partly his own doing.

Manny Machado led off by bunting back toward Guthrie, and he slipped while trying to field the ball. His hurried throw to first was wide of the bag for an error, and Machado trotted over to second base. Moments later, he headed for third when Guthrie threw a wild pitch.

Davis walked to put runners on the corners for Cruz, whose single drove in the game’s first run. Clevenger then grounded into a fielder’s choice to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.

It remained that way until the sixth, when consecutive singles again put runners on the corners. Cruz then lofted a fly ball deep enough to center to bring home Adam Jones.

Davis added his third homer of the season with two outs in the eighth.

By that point, the only drama was whether Tillman would finish the game. The Orioles had two relievers up in the bullpen in the ninth, and the Royals got the leadoff man on base. But Tillman calmly got the next three batters to ground out to end the game.

“We talked to him between innings, like we always do. It was a lot of effort but there was no real stressful innings for him,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “We had guys up and there was a point he was coming out of the game, but he was not going to be denied.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Nelson Cruz homered and the first-place Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Thursday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

Cruz homered in the fourth after Chris Davis drew a walk to lead off the inning. It was Cruz’s 12th home run, which is second in the American League to the 15 of Chicago White Sox rookie Jose Abreu. Cruz’s 35 RBIs are tied for second in the AL.

Wei-Yin Chen (5-2) limited the Royals to one run and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings with one walk and one strikeout. Chen, who is 5-1 in his past seven starts, was removed in the sixth after Salvador Perez walked and Alex Gordon singled with one out. Darren O’Day replaced Chen and struck out Danny Valencia and retried Johnny Giavotella on a fly to right.

Royals rookie right-hander Yordano Ventura (2-3) struck out nine and walked one in 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and seven hits. After Cruz’s home run, Ventura retired the next 10 batters, striking out seven, including six straight at one stretch.

Valencia’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the fourth scored Eric Hosmer for the only run off Chen.

Left-hander Zack Britton, who had not allowed a run in 7 1/3 innings and eight appearances, worked a perfect ninth for his first major league save. Manager Buck Showalter elected to go to Britton after closer Tommy Hunter blew his past two save chances.

The Royals did not have a baserunner off four Baltimore relievers, who retired 11 straight.

The Orioles, who went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, threatened in the seventh and eighth innings, but came away empty.

Gordon, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, threw out J.J. Hardy at the plate to end the seventh for his fourth outfield assist this season and his 58th since moving to the outfield in 2011. Hardy attempted to score from second on Nick Markakis’ single.

Manny Machado and Adam Jones led off the Orioles eighth with singles off Louis Coleman, the third Kansas City pitcher. Kelvin Herrera replaced Coleman and struck out Davis and Cruz and retired Steve Clevenger on a grounder to strand the runners.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There’s been so much talk about Mike Moustakas at the plate that the third baseman ignored the conversation Wednesday — even after doing something positive.

Moustakas hit a three-run double in the second inning to account for Kansas City’s only runs, and Jason Vargas and the Royals’ bullpen made the meager offense work in a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rockies that completed a two-game sweep.

Afterward, reporters peppered Moustakas with a series of questions about his decisive double, and each time he responded that Vargas pitched a great game.

Moustakas steadfastly refused to address his own hit.

“It’s a big game for us against a great team. Feels good to go out there and get a W with the way that Vargas pitched,” said Moustakas, who entered the game hitting .147 on the year.

Moustakas did answer questions about his slumping performance during a lengthy session with reporters the previous day. But he was downright defiant when he was approached on Wednesday.

He did talk about a nice play he made on defense, when he teamed with catcher Salvador Perez to pick off Charlie Culberson at third. The out came with the outcome still in the balance.

“Moose coming up clutch was huge,” said Vargas, who was perfectly willing to talk about the game’s biggest hit. “A big chance to put them in a hole early and we did.”

Meanwhile, Vargas (4-1) did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and did not allow a run until Drew Stubbs belted a two-run homer to left in the seventh.

Louis Coleman got the Royals out of the inning without any more damage, and Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect eighth. Greg Holland then pitched a shaky ninth for his 10th save.

After giving up a one-out single to Carlos Gonzalez and walking Nolan Arenado, Holland got Justin Morneau to hit a grounder to second. The ball was fielded cleanly and Kansas City got the runner there, but Morneau barely beat the throw to first base to keep the game going.

Holland promptly struck out Stubbs to leave the tying run on third.

“I think we’ve hit a little bump in the road here offensively,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “It’s safe to say that we’re struggling a little bit offensively. We’ve got to go back home and get it going again. No doubt about it, we’ve hit a little a little slide offensively.”

Jhoulys Chacin (1-1) pitched six gritty innings for Colorado, yielding seven hits and two walks.

The Rockies came into the two-game series swinging the best bats in the majors, but they were silenced by some stingy pitching. James Shields was their foil in a 5-1 Royals victory in Tuesday night’s opener, combining with the bullpen on a 12-strikeout performance.

Vargas was just as tough, striking out a season-high eight in 6 2/3 innings.

One of those strikeouts proved to be especially important: Troy Tulowitzki was left looking at a called third strike in the fourth inning. The leading hitter in the major leagues argued with plate umpire Dan Bellino over the location, which appeared down and in, and continued their one-sided conversation when he reached the dugout. Bellino responded by ejecting him.

“I felt like it was over once Tulo went back to the dugout,” Weiss said. “He heard him say something and that’s when he threw him out.”

D.J. LeMahieu took his spot in the lineup. And when the Rockies had runners on the corners in the sixth, it was LeMahieu rather than Tulowitzki at the plate. He struck out.

“Sometimes you just get caught up in the moment,” Tulowitzki said, “but to sit there and say do you regret doing that, no, because we weren’t playing well the last couple of games. Sometimes that lights a little spark in the team.”

— Associated Press —