Kansas City Royals Win 3-0 as Yordano Ventura Dominates

Maybe all it took was a cool night with some precipitation to remind Yordano Ventura of his times of dominance last postseason. Maybe playing in weather better suited to October instead of May in Kansas City helped him show why the Kansas City Royals considered him their ace. Whatever the reason, Ventura dominated the Cincinnati Reds tonight, as the Royals did just enough against Johnny Cueto to take a 3-0 victory.

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The Royals scratched their first run across in the bottom of the second. Eric Hosmer singled and Kendrys Morales drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Cueto appeared to be n the verge of getting out of the jam with two strikeouts, but Omar Infante singled to left to put the Royals first run on the board. A bunt single loaded the bases, but Alcides Escobar lined out to end the inning.

Kansas City put another run on the board in the fifth. Paulo Orlando led off the inning with a base hit, and after a sacrifice bunt, scored on Mike Moustakas‘ double to deep right, giving the Royals a 2-0 lead.

That was more than enough for Yordano  Ventura. The Reds threatened in the top of the third, putting runners on second and third with one out, but Ventura got out of the jam with a grounder to third and a strikeout. After that point, the Reds never really threatened again.

The Royals put an insurance run on the board int he seventh. Infante singled to lead off the inning, and scored on Moustakas’ two out double to center to give the Royals a 3-0 lead. That margin held up, as Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis nailed down the final two innings to preserve the victory.

Ventura dominated in his seven innings, allowing only four hits while striking out six. This is the type of outing we had all been waiting for, and is hopefully a sign of things to come.

Moustakas was 3-4 with two doubles and two RBI in the victory.

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