Royals Report: 4 Things About Bashfest vs. Boston

1) Ignore Ventura’s Line, It Was An Encouraging Outing

Yeah, the line wasn’t that impressive. Yordano Ventura went 5.2 IP, allowing seven hits, four runs, and struck out five. His ERA went up to 4.85.

But, the key thing was he was throwing much harder, locating the fastball up in the zone, and only allowed one walk. That walk came after he allowed a three-run bomb to Travis Shaw, and looked a bit discouraged on the mound.

Remember, the Red Sox came into the game hitting better than the ’27 New York Yankees (you know, the lineup that had The Murderer’s Row), according to Fangraphs.com. In that context, holding them to one run over 5.2 innings isn’t all that bad. Especially when you consider that Ventura came into the game with 13 walks in his last 13 innings.

I particularly liked seeing the return of Ventura’s 98 mph gas, which allays worries about his health. The stuff is there. Ventura also showed better command than he has in nearly three weeks. Results will follow if he keeps it up.

Tuesday night’s game was one where the old school stat of “Wins” told the tale better than the modern metrics. Ventura ran his record to 4-2 on the season with a solid performance that just might signal that he’s back on track.

Next: Paulo Orlando