Royals 1, Orioles 0
Danny Duffy took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Billy Butler knocked in the only run as Kansas City held on to edge visiting Baltimore.
Duffy (2-3) retired the first 20 batters before Adam Jones’ single and matched his career high by going seven-plus innings while striking out two and allowing two hits. Norichika Aoki had a pair of hits and scored a run for the Royals, who rebounded from dropping games the last two nights to the Orioles.
Wade Davis struck out two in the eighth inning and Greg Holland notched his 11th save after fanning three in the ninth, including Nelson Cruz with the bases loaded to end it. Baltimore starter Bud Norris (2-4) was the hard-luck loser, giving up only one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings.
Aoki reached on an infield hit to open the bottom of the first, stole second and scored on Butler’s two-out RBI single up the middle. Norris settled down to yield one hit over the next five innings while Duffy struck out only one batter in the first six frames and threw 74 pitches – 60 for strikes.
Left fielder Alex Gordon made a diving, backhanded catch on Nick Markakis' fly ball for the first out of the seventh and Duffy struck out Manny Machado before Jones singled up the middle. Duffy left the game after a leadoff single by Cruz in the eighth, finishing with 97 pitches and no walks.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Orioles manager Buck Showalter attended his daughter Allie’s graduation at Southern Methodist Law School on Saturday and bench coach John Russell took over the managerial duties. … Davis has at least one strikeout in his last 16 appearances and 34 over 18 1/3 innings overall this season. … Kansas City manager Ned Yost was ejected in the ninth inning by home-plate umpire Chris Segal for arguing a foul ball.