Yordano Ventura shakes off brawl, delivers gem as Royals beat White Sox 3-1

On a recent day here at U.S. Cellular Field, Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland was talking to manager Ned Yost about the mind of Yordano Ventura. The conversation was short and pointed, and given the events of Tuesday night in Baltimore, you might assume the conversation was another foray into the motivations and maturity of Ventura, the 25-pitcher who ignited a brawl in his last start. Eiland insists this was a conversation about pitching.

If Ventura could just repeat his mechanics and find consistency in his delivery, he would be “just like Danny Duffy,” Eiland said, referencing the Royals’ surging left-hander. If the consistency would come, Eiland told Yost, the results would follow.

“It’s all up here,” Eiland said, pointing to his head.

The conversation was prologue for Sunday afternoon, as Ventura conquered his mental struggle and quieted his critics, carrying the Royals to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Just five days after he poured gasoline on a fire in Baltimore, Ventura responded in ice-cold fashion, allowing one run in seven innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts.

The performance was his best of the season. The result gave the Royals, 32-30, two straight victories and a series win on the final day of a 2-8 road trip.

“You got to forget,” Yost said. “We’re starting a streak. We ended a streak, now we’re starting a streak. You just keep looking at the positives.”

OK, you want positives? Start with Ventura, who took a literal blow to the face in his last start and sprung off the mat with a rare shutdown performance in his next.

“He felt it early,” said Royals catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Ventura. “He felt good early with his mechanics.”

On Tuesday night in Baltimore, Ventura’s last start had ended with a 99-mph fastball to the ribs of Orioles shortstop Manny Machado, who broke for the mound, landed a glancing shot with his right hand and ignited a momentarily melee. For his role in the brawl, Ventura drew a nine-game suspension and a wave of derision from former and current players. Orioles outfielder Adam Jones called Ventura a Pedro Martinez wannabe. Martinez, the Hall of Famer and Dominican icon, even weighed into the fray, wondering aloud if Ventura was dealing with something off the field.

In the days after the fight, Ventura said he didn’t pay attention to the criticism. He downplayed his role in the scuffle, and elected to appeal the decision, which allowed him to start on regular rest on Sunday afternoon. If he was motivated by the events of Tuesday, he would not admit it.

“That’s something that happened,” he said.

On Sunday, Ventura sent a message with his right arm. For seven innings, he resembled the flame-throwing right-hander with frontline potential. He hit 100 mph on the radar gun while commanding his offspeed pitchers. He issued just one walk and required only 91 pitches before handing the game to the Royals’ bullpen. His only blemish came on a solo homer to Jose Abreu in the bottom of the sixth inning. He did not show any of the command issues that had led to a 5.32 ERA and an AL-leading 35 walks entering Sunday.

“Today was the perfect example of what he’s capable of achieving,” Yost said. “He went out and he stayed within his delivery; he stayed within himself. He was executing pitches with great life on them.”

When his day was over, Yost found Ventura in the Royals’ dugout and doled out a post-start assignment. On Monday, Yost said, he wanted Ventura to watch every pitch from his start Sunday.

“Because every pitch that he delivered, for me, was phenomenal,” Yost said. “Just go back and watch how you maintained your mechanics, and you still had life and action on your pitches. For him to bounce back like he did today, I was very proud of him.”

As Ventura cruised, the Royals’ hitters produced just enough offense against Chicago starter Carlos Rodon. Kansas City opened the game with single runs in the first and second innings. Whit Merrifield keyed the attack with three hits, raising his season average to .322. Salvador Perez tacked on an insurance run with a solo homer in the ninth off reliever Zach Putnam. Amazingly, it was the Royals’ ninth straight solo homer, dating back to last week.

“Teams are going to go through this, the ups and downs,” Merrifield said. “You’re going to get hot and get cold. You have to just scratch out wins during those cold stretches, and I think we can do a better job of that down the road.”

When the day was over, the Royals trailed the division-leading Cleveland Indians by three games. They will begin a three-game series against the Indians on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium. They will conclude the week with a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers.

After finishing 2-8 on a 10-game road trip, the Royals will return to the familiarity and security of home. After suffering through an eight-game losing streak, they remain in the thick of the division race. More promising: The future prospects of the starting rotation, which looked much better on Sunday than they did on Friday.

On Saturday afternoon, Danny Duffy struck out a career-high 10 batters in a 4-1 victory. On Sunday, Ventura took the baton and helped stabilize a unit that had crashed out on the road. In the process, Duffy and Ventura became the first Royals starters to strike out at least 10 batters in consecutive games since Zack Greinke and Luke Hochevar on Jule 24-25, 2009.

At some point, of course, Ventura will likely miss a start to serve his suspension. For now, no appeal hearing is set. The Royals will also need more consistent performances from Edinson Volquez and Ian Kennedy, who could not deliver wins during the road trip. But if you squinted hard on Sunday afternoon, you could see a rotation turning toward respectable. If Ventura can find consistency, Yost said, the results will follow.

“It would be a big boost for us,” Yost said. “We’ve got Danny Duffy, who is duplicating his mechanics and throwing strikes. If we can get Yordano to do it, it’s really going to solidify our rotation.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Yordano Ventura shakes off brawl, delivers gem as Royals beat White Sox 3-1."