Yordano Ventura Dominates as Royals Defeat Indians 7-1

After pitching only four innings in his last start due to a four hour rain delay, it was going to be interesting to see how Yordano Ventura would perform with what was essentially a bit of extra rest. As it turned out, Ventura performed quite well as he dominated the Cleveland Indians en route to the Royals 7-1 victory.

Facing Ventura was Indians starter Josh Tomlin, who matched him over the first two innings. That changed in the third when Christian Colon, making his first major league start, tripled to center for his first hit. He scored his first run a couple of minutes later, as Lorenzo Cain followed with a base hit to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

The Colon and Cain Show struck again in the fifth. With one out, Colon doubled. Cain followed with a double of his own, placing the ball just inside the line to plate Colon for the second time.

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Those runs seemed as though they would be all that Ventura would need. Touching triple digits with his fastball, he made quick work of the Indians lineup. Cleveland threatened to score in the bottom of the fourth, putting runners on first and third with one out. Ventura then got Jason Kipnis to ground into a double play to end the threat.

Kansas City broke the game open in the sixth. With runners on first and second, Mike Moustakas hammered Tomlin’s offering into the right field seats to give the Royals a 5-0 lead, ending Tomlin’s night. The Royals tacked on two more runs in the eighth, as Moustakas scored on Colon’s second double of the night. Colon then scored on an error by Lonnie Chisenhall, who threw away Billy Butler‘s grounder.

Yordano Ventura came out for the ninth in search of his first complete game shutout. That hope ended quickly, as Michael Brantley parked a 3-1 fastball over the wall in right to put the Indians on the board. After a groundout, Kipnis singled to left center, ending Ventura’s night. Aaron Crow came in to record the final two outs as the Royals took a 7-1 victory.

Yordano Ventura had his longest career outing, getting the win as he allowed one run on six hits and two walks over 8.1 innings, striking out four. With his fastball hitting 100 MPH into the eighth inning, Ventura was on cruise control for most of the night.

In his first start Christian Colon went 3-4 with a triple, two doubles, three runs scored and an RBI. Moustakas was 2-4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored in the win.