Kansas City Royals: Yordano Ventura Career Highlights

KEY GAMES IN 2015

While Ventura’s 2015 campaign wasn’t as stellar as his 2014 was, he still had some gems. One of his best came in May when the Reds came to Kauffman Stadium.

Ventura would be going up against Johnny Cueto, who was pitching for Cincinnati that night. Ventura considered Cueto to be a mentor to him, as we all became aware of when Cueto eventually was traded to the Royals later that season.

Ventura seemingly thanked Cueto by smoking him on the mound. Ace pitched seven innings that night and only allowed four hits on the night. Cueto, on the other hand, gave up three runs and the Royals would go on to win that game 3-0.

Another great pitching performance from Ace in 2015 was against the Cubs in a make-up game at Wrigley Field in late September. Ventura was able to pitch through seven innings without allowing a run.

In the playoffs that year, Ventura had one nice performance, which came in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Blue Jays. The Royals only had one more game to win in order to clinch their second straight World Series appearance, and Ventura had to pitch a great game.

In 5.1 innings, Ventura only allowed one run, which came off of Jose Bautista home run, but kept his team in the game. The Royals would go on to win in dramatic fashion and Ventura would later say, “We go the World Series again! Ooh baby!”