Yordano Ventura Dominates Twins in Royals Win

The Kansas City Royals bounced back from 2 straight losses with 2 straight wins with a 6-3 victory over Minnesota at Kauffman Stadium Thursday night behind 7 strong innings by Yordano Ventura.

Kansas City put the game out of reach with a 4-run 7th inning to take a tied 2-2 game to a 6-2 lead. Alcides Escobar struck the big blow, with a 2-run triple that put the Royals up 4-2.

The victory puts Kansas City at 3 games over .500 at 55-52. The Royals gained a game on the slumping Tigers, and are now 4 games behind Detroit in the American League Central.

On the Mound

Yordano Ventura pitched 7.0 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks, 2 runs (1 earned) with 7 strikeouts. Ventura’s win evened his season record at 8-8.

Aaron Crow entered in the 8th inning, but managed to get only one out while giving up a leadoff double and a walk. Crow’s line was .1 innings, with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 earned run.

Wade Davis then allowed an inherited runner to score when he gave up a double to Kurt Suzuki, but then escaped the inning without further damage by striking out 2 sandwiched around a walk.

Greg Holland earned his 29th save with a clean 9th inning that included 1 strikeout.

At the Plate

Twins starter Kevin Correia held the Royals scoreless until they tied the game with 2 runs in 5th inning on consecutive doubles by Raul Ibanez and Mike Moustakas followed by a fielding error by 2nd baseman Eduardo Escobar that allowed Moustakas to score.

The Royals then put the game away with a 4-run rally in the bottom of the 7th.

Escobar’s triple in the 7th was the key blow. He went 1-3, with the triple, 1 run scored and 2 RBI’s.

Lorenzo Cain was the only Royal to get more than one hit, going 2-4, with 2 singles and 1 run scored.

Jarrod Dyson caused all kinds of problems while going 1-4, with a single, a sharp grounder that Eduardo Escobar could not field for an error and scored Moose in the 2nd, 1 run scored, and 1 RBI. Dyson also stole both 2nd and 3rd in the 7th inning, and scored on a throwing error by Minnesota catcher Eric Fryer. Dyson now has 21 stolen bases on the season.

This and That

The Royals received some bad news on Thursday night when they learned that Eric Hosmer has a stress fracture in his hand that might put him out for up to 6 weeks.

The Royals evened their record at Kauffman Stadium at 27-27.

Wade Davis gave up his first extra base hit of the season on Kurt Suzuki’s pinch-hit double in the 8th. Davis had gone 45.1 IP without allowing an extra-base hit.

Ventura notched 7 strikeouts for the 2nd game in a row.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Yordano Ventura gets out nod with his 7 strong innings that were good enough for the win. Ventura has been a solid addition to the rotation as a rookie, and looks poised to help the team win for years to come.

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• Butler – 5
• Jason Frasor
• Francisley Bueno
• Danny Valencia
• Christian ColFon
• Raul Ibanez
• Jarrod Dyson – 2
• Lorenzo Cain – 6
• Johnny Giavotella
• Wade Davis
• Norichika Aoki – 2
• Salvador Perez – 6
• Jeremy Guthrie  –
• Jason Vargas – 6
• Alex Gordon – 10
• Bruce Chen7
• James Shields – 9
• Yordano Ventura – 5
• Danny Duffy – 7
• Omar Infante – 4
• Mike Moustakas – 8
• Alcides Escobar – 5
• Eric Hosmer – 12
• Michael Mariott

The Twins

Danny Santana hit a leadoff home run (4) in the 1st inning for the Twins off Yordana Ventura. Santana went hitless the rest of the way to finish 1-4, with 1 run scored and 1 RBI.

Up Next

The Royals will travel to Oakland to face the new-look A’s who traded CF Yoenis Cespedes for Boston ace Jon Lester at the trade deadline on Thursday. The Royals will send Jeremy Guthrie (6-9, 4.70 ERA) to the mound against Sonny Gray (12-3, 2.65 ERA) for Oakland. Game time is 8:35 PM CST at Oakland Coliseum on Friday night.

Box

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

2B: E Fryer (1, off Y Ventura); O Arcia (8, off A Crow); K Suzuki (20, off W Davis).
HR: D Santana (4, off Y Ventura, 1st inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep RF Line).
TB: D Santana 4; E Fryer 3; E Escobar 2; K Suzuki 2; O Arcia 2.
RBI: D Santana (22); K Suzuki (42).
Team LOB: 11.
With RISP: 2 for 12.
Fielding
DP: 1. T Plouffe-E Escobar-C Colabello.
E: E Escobar (5); E Fryer (1).

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

2B: R Ibanez (8, off K Correia); M Moustakas (14, off K Correia).
3B: A Escobar (3, off R Pressly).
TB: A Escobar 3; R Ibanez 2; M Moustakas 2; L Cain 2; A Gordon; B Butler; J Dyson.
GIDP: S Perez (16).
RBI: A Escobar 2 (32); J Dyson (15); M Moustakas (42).
Team LOB: 3.
With RISP: 3 for 8.
Fielding
E: M Moustakas 2 (10).
Baserunning
SB: L Cain (15, 2nd base off C Thielbar/E Fryer); J Dyson 2 (21, 2nd base off R Pressly/E Fryer, 3rd base off R Pressly/E Fryer).

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

Balks: None.
WP: None.
HBP: None.
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.