Kansas City Royals: Can Yordano Ventura Keep It Up

After a drama filled week for Yordano Ventura, the Kansas City Royals needed the flame throwing pitcher to step it up and prove that he could be something positive for this team. He did just that.

Last week wasn’t a great one for Yordano Ventura. He gave up four runs against Baltimore before deciding to be Mr. Tough Guy and beaning Manny Machado with a pitch. The two brawled on the mound and some, like myself, were calling for a punishment that would actually help Ventura change his ways.

Ventura received a nine-game suspension for his actions in the brawl, but he appealed so it won’t go into effect just yet.

With the appeal out there, Ventura was able to start against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon. For one of the few times this season, he was the pitcher that the Kansas City Royals expected him to be. He was phenomenal.

Ventura went seven innings and allowed one run off of five hits. He gave the Royals seven strong innings and showed that maybe he is going to be better on the mound from here on out.

Part of Ventura’s struggles this season have been due to him issuing a large amount of walks, which usually would come back to bite him. In this particular game, however, Ventura only had one walk and struck out ten batters.

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Before the game against the White Sox, Ventura was sporting 5.32 ERA, but was able to lower it to under five with a 4.93. He has a winning record now too at 5-4 and hopefully this will be the Yordano Ventura that sticks around for the rest of the season.

Ventura has been that pitcher that fans aren’t sure what they’re going to get out of him. We’ve all seen just how electric the guy can be on the mound, but those results aren’t always the ones the Royals get.

Prior to his last start, Ventura had given up 13 runs in three starts (12 of those came in two of those games), but was reducing the amount of walks he issued, with only two.

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The hope that the Kansas City Royals had heading into last season was that Yordano Ventura could be the number one “ace” on the team and Danny Duffy could be the number two “potential ace”. Instead, both faltered, Ventura was at one point demoted to Triple-A Omaha, and Duffy was sent to the bullpen near the end of the regular season.

Now, however, if both Ventura and Duffy can keep up how they’ve been pitching, maybe that one-two punch the team had in mind for last year can still be on the table.

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