Royals Report: KC Wins 9th Straight In Pitching Duel In Miami

The Royals extended their winning streak to nine straight games by defeating the Marlins 1-0 in Miami on Tuesday night. Starter Yordano Ventura went six scoreless innings backed up by three more shutout frames from the suddenly dominant bullpen for the win.

The Kansas City Royals improved their record to 65-60 by winning 1-0 on Tuesday. They pulled within 7.5 games of AL Central leading Cleveland pending the results of their game against Oakland. The Royals remain 4.0 games behind the Orioles for the second AL wild card. The Marlins fell to 65-60 and remain second place in the NL East.

Kansas City continues to dominate on the mound. Yordano Ventura held the Marlins scoreless through 6.0 innings, allowing only 6 hits, 1 walk, and 0 earned runs with 6 strikeouts. KC Royals manager Ned Yost pulled Ventura in the seventh for pinch hitter Kendrys Morales with runners on first and second and one out. Unfortunately, Morales struck out.

Matt Strahm, Joakim Soria, and Kelvin Herrera followed Ventura with three scoreless innings of relief. Herrera picked up his eighth save of the season as the KC bullpen extended their scoreless streak to 32.0 innings to establish a new team record.

Ventura pitched out of a sticky jam in the bottom of the sixth when Marcell Ozuna doubled to lead off the inning. J.T. Realmuto hit a tapped to Ventura that worked like a bunt to move Ozuna to third. With certain Hall-Of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki at the plate, Ventura induced the Miami star to ground out to second with the infield drawn in, which prevented Ozuna to score. Ventura then struck out Xavier Scruggs to end the inning.

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Ozuna left the game in the seventh due to a family emergency. Fox Sports Kansas City announcer Steve Physioc mentioned on air that Ozuna’s wife is pregnant, so we expect that the “emergency” will yield some happy news on Wednesday.

Kansas City scored the game’s only run in the top of the sixth inning when Paulo Orlando walked, stole second base, advanced to third on Cheslor Cuthbert‘s grounder, and score on Loreno Cain’s RBI single to center.

In the end, the Kansas City Royals scored only one run. But, that single tally was enough given the dominant pitching.

Next: 10 Things That Have Gone Right For The Royals In 2016

Not only has KC won nine straight, they also extended their road winning streak to five games. At long last, the team is succeeding on the road after struggling all season away from Kauffman Stadium.

Don’t look now, American League. The Kansas City Royals have their championship swagger back!

The Royals extended their winning streak to nine straight games by defeating the Marlins 1-0 in Miami on Tuesday night. Starter Yordano Ventura went six scoreless innings backed up by three more shutout frames from the suddenly dominant bullpen for the win.

More from Kings of Kauffman

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