Boxscore Breakdown Game #47: Knocked on their Duff – Angels 6, Royals 1

The Angels really knocked the Royals on their Duff in this one. Get it? Because Danny Duffy was the starter? Puns! Sorry, it is the weekend and I couldn’t think of a better teaser. But at least I can give you this:

There. Now don’t feel better?

Run Expectancy Rundown

The most obvious takeaway here is that Mike Trout is just fine. There was no hint of lingering hamstring issues and he was productive at the plate, all while NOT striking out. C.J. Cron and Erick Aybar both came up big with timely hits as well. Grant Green made Scioscia look smart for starting him over Kole Calhoun. The only blight on the record was David Freese, but that was more a product of good defense by the Royals than bad hitting by Freese.

Nori Aoki gave Wilson fits and Alex Gordon got over on him in that first inning, but beyond that, nobody else did anything. That’s pretty much standard for the Royals offense.

Starting Pitcher Scores

C.J. Wilson had a rough first inning as he was pitching like, well, a guy that threw 127 pitches in his last outing. He settled in after that and barely suffered another threat. Scioscia made the right decision to load up with righties to take on the southpaw Danny Duffy as they handed him his first bad outing of the season.

Bullpen Battle

My God! That’s Sean Burnett‘s music!!! It had become a running gag over the last year that Sean Burnett did not, in fact, exist, but there he was live and in person to retire Eric Hosmer. Fernando Salas was a little wobbly in the ninth, but otherwise it was a strong outing for the bullpen. The same can’t be said for KC and Louis Coleman.

Game Flow

That first inning was pretty scary, but with only one-run scoring, the Angels barely saw a dent in their win expectancy. They waited “all the way” until the second inning to take control of the game, but it was the big sixth inning where the put Royals to sleep for good.

Halo Hero

Other players might have had bigger moments, but how can I not reward Trout for being healthy, hitting a homer and not striking out?