Yordano Ventura shuts down Indians in Royals 7-1 victory

One night after Danny Duffy showed that he could be the Royals ace of the future, it was Yordano Ventura‘s turn to make a statement. He certainly did so tonight, holding the Cleveland Indians offense in check as the Royals bats woke up, sending Kansas City to a 7-1 victory.

Ventura and Cleveland starter Danny Salazar matched each other over the first three innings, each shutting down the other team’s offense. In fact, Salazar had struck out six batters over the first three innings, as it looked like a long time for the Royals.

Then, instead of sitting back and swinging at third strikes in the dirt, the Royals offense came to life in the top of the fourth. Billy Butler led off the inning with a walk, and a single by Alex Gordon put runners on first and second. After an out, Omar Infante broke the scoreless tie by lacing a double to deep left, plating both runners to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.

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The offense kept going in the fifth. With two out, Eric Hosmer doubled to deep right, and scored on Butler’s ground rule double. An intentional walk to Alex Gordon brought Salvador Perez to the plate, and he delivered a two run double to give the Royals a 5-0 lead, knocking Salazar from the game.

That would be more than enough support for Yordano Ventura. He breezed through the Indians lineup before running into trouble with two out in the seventh, as Cleveland loaded the bases. However, he battled back to strike out Jose Ramirez, keeping the Indians off the board.

The Royals two more insurance runs in the top of the inning. With Hosmer and Butler on the corners and no one out, Gordon doubled to center, plating both runners as Butler chugged in ahead of the throw, giving the Royals a 7-0 lead. The Indians got on the board courtesy of a run scoring double play, but it was not nearly enough as the Royals took the 7-1 victory.

Yordano Ventura earned the win, pitching seven shutout innings. He allowed four hits and four walks, striking out six batters as he was still hitting triple digits on the radar gun over 100 pitches into his outing.

Billy Butler was 2-4 with a double, an RBI, a walk and three runs scored.