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DETROIT -- Neither Danny Duffy nor his manager was giving much thought to the possibility of a no-hitter on Friday. The left-hander, who is 14 months removed from elbow surgery, was actually happy to finally give up a hit against the Tigers. Duffy (1-0) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and beat Justin Verlander and Detroit 2-1 on a combined two-hitter in the first game of a day-night doubleheader. Duffy was called up from Triple-A Omaha to make his second big league start of the season, and didnt allow a hit until Miguel Cabreras hard-hit, two out single in the sixth. "I was glad that they finally got one, honestly, because I just wanted to pitch," said Duffy, who underwent Tommy John surgery. "I wanted to protect this arm." Manager Ned Yost wasnt about to push his pitcher. "Even if he didnt give up a hit in the sixth, that was probably going to be his last inning anyway, because we had him for 100 pitches (he threw 96)," Yost said. "He didnt have the pitches for the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. "We just wanted five innings out of him and he gave us one more than we expected." Kelvin Herrera replaced Duff in the seventh and retired the side in order. Aaron Crow worked the eighth and surrendered Santiagos pinch-hit home run leading off the inning. Crow got the next three batters. Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his 33rd save. Eric Hosmer homered for the Royals. Ramon Santiago hit a pinch hit home run for the Tigers. "Would have liked to have been able to accomplish two things, win and keep the bullpen fresh," Verlander. "Just didnt happen that way. Felt like I threw the ball well. Just their guys pitched extremely well, which is theyve done all year." He allowed two runs on seven hits in eight innings. He struck out five and didnt walk a batter. Verlander gave up Hosmers 13th home run of the season, leading off the fourth, which gave the Royals a 1-0 lead. The left-handed hitting first baseman drilled Verlanders pitch to the opposite field and into the left-field stands beyond the Tigers bullpen. "Just trying to stay to the middle and not pull off anything," Hosmer said. Verlander said Hosmer took advantage of a hanging curve. "Yeah, it was a hanger. You dont see hanging curveballs hit the opposite field too often though. That was impressive," he said. "It wasnt like it was a question about it getting out. I didnt even watch it. Strong kid." Kansas City made it 2-0 on consecutive doubles leading off the seventh by Justin Maxwell and Bonifacio. Phil Coke and Al Alburquerque pitched the ninth for Detroit, combining to retire the Royals 1-2-3. NOTE: Tigers manager Jim Leyland said it was likely that neither closer Joaquin Benoit nor late-inning reliever Bruce Rondon would be available for either games of Fridays games because of how often theyve been used in the past few games. . Royals manager Ned Yost said third baseman Mike Moustakas, who has been out since leaving Mondays game with a tight calf, would do some work on the field on Friday to assess his progress. . Tigers regular DH Victor Martinez and first baseman Prince Fielder switched places for the first game. Fielder served as the DH and Martinez played first. . Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias, as he squared to attempt a bunt, was hit in the groin area by a Danny Duffy pitch leading off the third inning. Iglesias hobbled toward first base before collapsing in foul territory. He remained in the game after being attended to by trainer Kevin Rand and after he recovered. . The Royals Billy Butler continued his mastery of Verlander. Butler was 2-for-3 to run his career mark against the Tigers star to 27-for-62 (. 435). . The scheduled starters for Fridays night portion of the doubleheader are James Shields (7-8, 3.33) for Kansas City against rookie lefthander Jose Alvarez (1-2, 5.03), who was called up from Triple-A Toledo to make the start in the twin bill. Cheap Florida Panthers Jerseys . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap Panthers Jerseys Authentic .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. http://www.cheapfloridapanthersjerseys.com/ . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Cheap Adidas Panthers Jerseys . The Cincinnati Reds remain perfect with their speedy rookie outfielder in the starting lineup. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division.MINNEAPOLIS -- When a routine single skipped under the glove of Michael Bourn and started rolling toward the wall, things couldve gotten ugly for the Cleveland Indians. Zach McAllister made sure that didnt happen. McAllister won for the first time in almost three months, Ryan Raburn homered and the Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Tuesday night. With Minnesota down 5-1 in the sixth inning, Joe Mauer scored from first base on a single by Justin Morneau that skipped under the glove of centre fielder Michael Bourn for an error and rolled all the way to the warning track. McAllister fanned Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia to end the inning and strand Mauer at third, getting several pats on the back from teammates as he walked back to the dugout. "Our defence has been great for us all year long. For us as pitchers, its our job to pick them up when they dont always do what we expect of them," McAllister said. "For us to be able to pick them up, its exciting and its great to know that they have our back and we have them when we need to." Cleveland had lost seven of its last eight and posted a 6.00 ERA during that stretch. Coming off his worst start of the season Thursday against Detroit, McAllister (5-7) bounced back and held Minnesota to one earned run and four hits in six innings. He struck out seven in his first win since May 23. Cleveland manager Terry Francona said the sixth inning was the highlight of McAllisters night. "Were getting to a point where youre thinking about maybe going to the bullpen," Francona said. "Hes up around 100 pitches and guys have seen him a couple times. He executed very well there." Josh Willingham homered for the Twins in the second inning, Minnesotas 23rd straight run from a home run -- an MLB record. But the Twins went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and are now 3-for-48 in those situations over their last six games. Mauer scoring on Bourns error was the first time Minnesota scored without a home run since Aug. 7. "We cant rely on home runs all the time," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Its nice when we hit them but were going to have to drive in some of these runs with less than two outs and a mans on third. Unfortunately we didnt do it again tonnight.dddddddddddd" The Indians led 3-1 in the sixth when Samuel Deduno (7-6) hit Carlos Santana in the toe with a pitch. Plate umpire Adam Hamari initially ruled that Dedunos pitch didnt hit him, but awarded Santana first base after conferring with the rest of his crew and changing the call. Rayburn then lined a home run into the left-centre field bleachers, a much-needed blast for a team that got shut out on Monday night by rookie Andrew Albers making his second major-league start. "You go through stretches where you cant get a hit. Its not like we havent been swinging the bat well," Rayburn said. "Last night, I dont know how many great plays they made off of us. Thats part of the game." McAllisters strong start was a boost for an Indians team that entered Tuesday in third place instead of second in the AL Central for the first time since June 17. After McAllister exited, Cody Allen and Joe Smith each pitched a perfect inning. Chris Perez allowed a two-out double to Arcia in the ninth, but retired Trevor Plouffe to end the game and record his 19th save in 22 chances. Bourn, Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley added RBIs for Cleveland. "The game just didnt seem like it went anywhere. I wish I had more to offer than that," Gardenhire said. "I think about the game and nothing really happened too awfully exciting. Sammy gave up the runs, and we didnt do anything offensively." NOTES: The Indians signed former Blue Jays No. 1 pick David Cooper to a minor league deal and sent him to their spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. The 26-year-old first-baseman is expected to join Triple-A Columbus later this month. ... Minnesota acquired LHP Miguel Sulbaran from the Dodgers to complete the trade for C Drew Butera. The 19-year-old was 6-4 with a 3.01 ERA in 23 games for the Dodgers low Class A team. Minnesota GM Terry Ryan said he expects Sulbaran to be a starter in the Twins system. ... Twins rookie Kyle Gibson (2-3, 6.43 ERA) will try to pitch more than six innings for the first time in his career in Wednesdays series finale. ... Carlos Carrasco (0-4, 7.75 ERA) starts for Cleveland and will try to win for the first time since beating Arizona on June 29, 2011. Carrasco has lost his last 10 decisions. ' ' '