Duffy takes perfect game into 7th; Royals blank O's

Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Moustakas snared a liner at third and Alex Gordon made a sensational diving catch down the left field line, but no one was able to get to Adam Jones' roller up the middle.

Danny Duffy lost a perfect game in the seventh inning and exited after giving up his second hit to begin the eighth in the Kansas City Royals' 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the third test of a four-game set.

Nick Markakis led off the seventh and sliced a fastball down the left field line, but Gordon tracked it down and laid out to make the snag. After Manny Machado struck out, however, Jones sharply grounded a 1-0 fastball back up the box.

"He dealt, he was on a roll," Jones said. "He pounded the zone, he made us swing the bat."

Nelson Cruz banged a single into left to start the eighth before Duffy exited to a standing ovation. Duffy (2-3) struck out just two batters over his seven- plus frames for Kansas City, which had dropped the first two games of this set.

"He was throwing strikes with all his pitches, he was all kind of special tonight," Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Wade Davis finished off the eighth and Greg Holland loaded the bases in the ninth before fanning Cruz to end the game for his 11th save of the season.

Holland gave up a one-out walk to Markakis and Machado followed with a base hit to put runners on the corners, but Holland struck out Jones for the second out.

During Jones' at-bat, Jones appeared to swing through a slider in the dirt for the third strike, but home plate umpire Chris Segal ruled it a foul ball.

Yost came out to argue and was ejected.

"He was convinced he heard it, but I thought what he heard was the ball bouncing off the plate," Yost said.

Jones then waved at another slider two pitches later for strike three and after Chris Davis walked to load the bases, Holland fired a fastball by Cruz to end it.

Kansas City's lone run came in the first. Nori Aoki led off with a single and later stole second before coming around to score on Billy Butler's base hit up the middle.

Moustakas took a step to his left to haul in Caleb Joseph's hard-hit ball in the sixth to keep the then-perfect game in tact.

Bud Norris (2-4) allowed a run on four hits and a walk over 7 1/3 frames for the Orioles, who have dropped five of their last seven games.

Game Notes

Duffy, whose ERA dwindled to 1.42, didn't walk a better in a start for the second time in his career ... Kansas City was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.