Royals Report: Indians Drub Yordano Ventura in 7-1 Loss

The Royals continue their early-season slide by getting clobbered 7-1 by the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field Friday night.

Nothing is going well for the Kansas City Royals right now. They’re not hitting, pitching, or performing in the clutch. That’s why they’re 2-8 in their last 10 games and are now 14-14 overall on the 2016 season.

Pretty much every team runs bad at some time during a 162 game season, but fans can’t help but worry when the poor performance comes early in the year. You tend to think that the poor performance is who the team is rather than a simple cold streak.

Number nine hitter Jose Ramirez beat up on the KC Royals Friday night, hitting a tw0-out double with the bases loaded in third inning that score three runs. That key hit turned a slim 1-0 lead into a 5-0 bulge against starter Yordano Ventura.

Ramirez pulled a similar trick in the fifth inning against reliever Brian Flynn with a two-out double to score two runs. That hit pretty much put the game away by making the score 7-0.

The Kansas City Royals offense failed to respond until scratching out an unearned run against reliever Dan Otero in the ninth inning.

FANTASY NOTE:

More from KC Royals News

• KC Royals Rumors: Is a monster move in the cards?
• KC Royals Free Agent Hunt: 3 Tampa Bay pitchers
• Grading the 2022 KC Royals: The $25 million man
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Expectations met
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Day 3 update

As bad as the KC Royals offense is going right now, Lorenzo Cain has seemingly turned things around with two singles in four at bats Friday. Cain has stroked 11 hits in his last 32 at bats. While they were all singles, he’s getting his stroke back after an ice-cold start to the 2016 season. After getting his six-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday against the Nationals, it was good to see more hits on Friday.

Twenty-three year old Cleveland infielder Jose Ramirez could be earning regular playing time by continuing to hit. Aside from his three-hit, five RBI game on Friday, he’s been a consistent producer all season for the Tribe. He’s hitting .324 on the season. Ramirez qualifies at 3B, 2B, SS and OF in ESPN leagues and could be a useful piece on almost any lineup with a hole.  Grab him while he’s hot. He’s only owned in 6.9% of ESPN leagues.

KEY PITCHING PERFORMANCES:

Kansas City Royals:

Yordano Ventura: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, L (2-2)

Cleveland Indians:

Danny Salazar: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (3-2)

KEY HITTING PERFORMANCES:

Kansas City Royals:

Lorenzo Cain: 2-4

Cleveland Indians:

Francisco Lindor: 3-4, 1 R

Jose Ramirez: 3-3, 2 2B, 1 BB, 5 RBI

Mike Napoli: 2-4, 1R, 2 RBI

NEXT GAME:

The KC Royals will send Ian Kennedy (3-2, 2.61 ERA) to the mound against Cody Anderson  (2-2, 7.65 ERA) for the Cleveland Indians 3:10 CST at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, May 7.