The battle of at-large teams in the Midwest Regional featured a pair

DETROIT -- Neither Danny Duffy nor his manager was giving much thought to the possibility of a no-hitter on Friday. Wholesale Kyrie Irving Shoes . 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. Kyrie Irving Shoes Outlet . -- Cordell Cato scored his first goal of the season and the San Jose Earthquakes survived a full half playing a man down to beat FC Dallas 2-1 Saturday night. Kyrie Irving Shoes From China . Ghoulam has put pen to paper on a four and a half year deal, tying him to Napoli until 2018. The 22-year-old Algeria international, who played for France at Under 21 level, has made 87 league appearances in four seasons at Saint-Etienne. https://www.cheapshoeskyrieirving.com/ . Pistorius denied the allegation that he said to the close friend of the girlfriend he killed: "How can you sleep at night?" The accusation by Kim Myers provided a bizarre twist during the trial of the world-famous double-amputee Olympian, who is facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for shooting dead Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, at his home last year.MILWAUKEE -- It was just like old times for Rick Barnes and Texas. The Longhorns made a successful return to the NCAA tournament when Cameron Ridley converted a tiebreaking layup as time expired Thursday night, lifting his team to an 87-85 victory over Arizona State. Jonathan Holmes missed badly on a long 3-pointer for the Longhorns in the final seconds, but Ridley emerged from the scrum and banked it in as the buzzer sounded. The call stood after a video replay, handing Texas its first tourney win since 2011. "I went to the glass as hard as I could," Ridley said. Ridley finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Longhorns (24-10), who led by 14 with 12 minutes left. Freshman reserve Martez Walker had 16 points and Demarcus Holland scored 14 on 6-for-6 shooting from the field. "It was a great, great college basketball game and I thought it was really very unfortunate that either team had to lose this game," Barnes said. "We were fortunate. ... We didnt have great execution at the end but we found a way to make a couple plays." Texas will face No. 2 seed Michigan Saturday. The Wolverines advanced with a 57-40 victory over Wofford. Jordan Bachynski had 25 points and seven rebounds for No. 10 seed Arizona State (21-12), which was making its first tournament appearance since 2009. Jahii Carson had 19 points and nine assists, and Jermaine Marshall added 17 points and seven rebounds. "Its a tough one, its a tough way to end the game and end my career," Bachynski said. Texas went to the NCAA tournament in each of Barnes first 14 seasons, making it to the 2003 Final Four. But last season was a disaster for the Longhorns, who went 16-18 and lost in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational. Barnes lost three starters from that team, but Holmes and Ridley returned, and the Lonnghorns were determined to turn it around after the disappointing finish. Kyrie Irving Shoes For Sale. They stumbled a bit heading into the tournament, losing five of eight, but they stepped up at the most critical time against the Sun Devils. Holmes made two free throws to give Texas a 61-47 lead with 12:11 to go, and the Longhorns looked ready to blow out the Sun Devils. ASU then scored 17 of the next 22 points, trimming the deficit to two on Jonathan Gillings 3-pointer with 8:15 left. Arizona State had an 83-82 lead when Holmes grabbed an air ball by Javan Felix and scored while being fouled by Gilling. He made the resulting foul shot with 32 seconds to go. Gilling made two free throws on the other end, setting up the frantic finish. Gilling had four 3-pointers and 15 points for the Sun Devils, who lost their last four games of the season. "They just keep playing, theyve been a next-play, next-game team all season," Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said. "I can tell you right now its a very emotional, heartbroken locker room." The battle of at-large teams in the Midwest Regional featured a pair of coaches with a long history together. Barnes first met Herb Sendek at a 1978 basketball camp at the University of Pittsburgh, and Barnes had Sendek on his staff for one season when he was in charge at Providence. They also coached against each other for years in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Their only other meeting in the NCAA tournament occurred in 2006, when Texas beat North Carolina State 75-54 in the round of 32. Both teams got off to fast starts, with Bachynskis jumper for Arizona State tying it at 21 with 12:32 to go. But Texas responded with a 9-0 run, beginning with Walkers two free throws and ending with Walkers 3 from the wing. Walker added a layup with 31 seconds left to help the Longhorns to a 41-36 halftime lead. ' ' '