Duffy, Kennedy top Royals’ rotation
Danny Duffy will start on Opening Day for the Kansas City Royals after he began last season in the bullpen.
Manager Ned Yost also announced the rest of his rotation Saturday. Ian Kennedy will start the second game and the April 10 home opener against Oakland. Jason Hammel, Jason Vargas and Nathan Karns will round out the rotation in that order.
Kansas City opens the season April 3 at Minnesota.
Duffy, 28, returned to the Royals’ camp wearing a gold medallion after helping Team USA win the World Baseball Classic. He went 2-0 in the WBC, winning the semifinal game.
The left-hander made 15 relief appearances last season before being inserted into the rotation May 15. He went 12-3 in 26 starts, winning 10 straight decisions from June 11-Aug. 21. He set a franchise record with 16 strikeouts on Aug. 1 at Tampa Bay.
Price update: While there is still no timetable for David Price’s return to game activity, the Boston Red Sox got a small amount of good news on the left-hander’s ailing elbow.
“There was a series of strength tests done this morning in the training room and (we) felt like he was improved to the point of initiating more throwing,” manager John Farrell said.
That progress allowed Price to take part in a brief game of catch Saturday. Price, who is entering the second year of a seven-year, $217 million contract, felt discomfort in his elbow the day after pitching two innings of a simulated game Feb. 28.
Exhibition highlights: Yankees first baseman Greg Bird hit his seventh home run this spring in a 6-5 win over a Toronto split-squad, tying Kansas City’s Pete O’Brien for the bigleague lead . ... Pablo Sandoval hit his fourth spring homer and Rusney Castillo had two hits and scored twice in a Boston split-squad’s 7-5 win over Tampa Bay . ... Kris Bryant homered and doubled, top prospect Ian Happ had a three-run homer and four RBIs and Chesny Young added a pair of homers in a Cubs’ split-squad’s 11-7 win over a Cincinnati split-squad. Happ is hitting .417 this spring with a team-leading 17 RBIs . ... Tanner Roark, in his first start for Washington since the World Baseball Classic, gave up one run on three hits over 51⁄3 innings, striking out five in a 4-1 win over Houston.
Briefly: Cleveland outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall will be sidelined for three days after spraining his right shoulder when he crashed into a wall chasing a flyball Friday . ... Shortstop Carlos Correa, back with the Astros after the World Baseball Classic, complained of midsection soreness brought on by extensive coughing and requested one more day off.