Royals hope Danny Duffy misses only one start after clean MRI

— -- The Kansas City Royals hope to have Danny Duffy back in their rotation soon after an MRI revealed that the left-hander has no structural damage in his pitching elbow.

Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters Sunday that Duffy has a "low-grade pronator strain" in his elbow and he could miss up to three weeks.

The Royals placed Duffy on the 10-day disabled list Saturday in a move that is retroactive to Wednesday. Although Duffy has been bothered by elbow soreness for the past month, Yost told reporters that the Royals still hope Duffy will miss only one start.

In his last start, Duffy allowed two runs and one hit in six innings against the Colorado Rockies. He is 8-8 with a 3.78 ERA in 21 starts this season.

The Royals are anxious to get Duffy back as they head into the heart of the playoff race. Kansas City entered Sunday trailing first-place Cleveland by eight games in the American League Central and was just 1? games back in a jam-packed wild-card race.

Rookie left-hander Eric Skoglund will take Duffy's spot and make his fifth career start Sunday. The Royals also purchased the contract of lefty Onelki Garcia from Triple-A Omaha.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.