Duffy owns Royals mark with 16 strikeouts

ST. PETERSBURG — The Danny Duffy that has become the ace of the staff is the one the Royals have envisioned for years.

That Duffy was on full display again on Monday night as he carried a no-hitter through seven innings and dominated the Rays in a 3-0 win at Tropicana Field. Duffy finished with a one-hitter through eight innings and struck out a franchise-record 16.

To put it simply, the Rays simply had no chance — only nine batters even put the ball in play, none on the ground. Outside of Desmond Jennings’ leadoff double in the eighth that broke up the no-no, the Rays either struck out or hit weak popups and fly balls.

“I’ve seen a few [outings] that good,” manager Ned Yost said, “but not many. He was just electric tonight. He had everything going, seven innings of no-hit baseball and eight innings, 16 punchouts, one walk. It was special.”

But the Royals have seen this for months now. Since moving to the rotation in May to replace the injured Chris Young, Duffy is 7-1 as a starter with a 2.98 ERA. He has eight quality starts in his last 10 outings.

Duffy had shown signs of this the last two years. But nothing as consistently dominant as the last 2 1/2 months.

“This is enough for me to say that he’s definitely turned the corner,” Yost said. “That’s a big step, when you just take your game to …

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