Bob Lutz: Yordano Ventura pitches well beyond his age in KC’s biggest game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Yordano Ventura sat in the Kansas City dugout for what seemed like an eternity in the second inning Tuesday night while his teammates who carry bats were having the time of their lives against the San Francisco Giants.

They hit and hit and hit, knocking starter Jake Peavy out of the game and continuing the assault against reliever Yusmeiro Petit. Peavy, who takes forever to throw a pitch, was ready for a bus ticket back to San Francisco by the time the inning ended with the Royals having put seven runs on the board with seven hits.

It was 7-0 when Ventura, a 23-year-old who just might be Kansas City’s Next Big Thing, went back to the mound for the third. And after striking out Travis Ishikawa to start the inning, he walked three straight batters.

You get seven runs, you’re not supposed to walk three.

Worse, the Giants’ Buster Posey was at the plate. The party was put on hold.

But not for long. Because instead of taking a pitch or two from a pitcher who was struggling with command, Posey swung at Ventura’s first offering and grounded into a double play.

The Giants never threatened again against Ventura, whose seven strong innings and a 15-hit Royals attack were the keys in a 10-0 victory.

Oh boy, now there’s a Game 7 Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. It’ll be only the second World Series Game 7 since 2002 and the level of intrigue is going to be immense.

How will the Giants use left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who has been kind of unbelievable against the Royals in his two previous World Series starts? Veteran right-hander Tim Hudson will start for the Giants against Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie, but Bumgarner represents an intriguing silver bullet in manager Bruce Bochy’s aresenal.

“The best thing about this game tonight,” Bochy said of the 10-0 blistering, “is that we get to wash it off.”

The Royals, scoreless for 16 consecutive innings, busted loose with fury against Peavy, who threw the baseball where the Royals wanted him to, not where he wanted. The second inning was a runs-fest, highlighted by an infield hit by Alcides Escobar, a double that stayed just inside the first-base line by Mike Moustakas and a double by Eric Hosmer that high-hopped over the Giants’ shortstop into left-center field.

All but one player in the Royals’ lineup had a hit by the second inning and everyone had a hit by the third after Omar Infante’s leadoff double led to another run.

And Ventura cruised down the highway after dedicating the game to his friend and fellow Dominican Oscar Taveras, the St. Louis Cardinals’ 22-year-old outfielder who was killed along with his 18-year-old girlfriend in a car wreck Sunday in the Dominican Republic.

Ventura and Taveras grew up 97 miles apart in the coastal resort towns of Samana and Puerto Plata.

“I know him very well,” Ventura said Monday. “I played against Oscar in the minor leagues. When we would play against each other, we'd go over to each other’s houses and hang out during the minor league season. I consider myself a friend of his, and my thoughts are with the family and of all of those who know him. It's a very difficult time.”

Ventura pointed to the sky before Tuesday’s start and wore a cap with the inscription “RIP OT #18.”

Taveras, sadly, will never get another chance to show his immense talents.

Ventura will, and the Royals and their fans are ecstatic to see how much he can accomplish.

But Ventura’s postseason was nearly cut short in the American League wild-card game against the Oakland Athletics on Sept. 30. Remember?

Of course you do.

It was Ventura, who just two days earlier had thrown 73 pitches in the final game of the regular season against the Chicago White Sox, who was summoned from the bullpen after starter James Shields got into sixth-inning trouble.

Kansas City held a precarious 3-2 lead and Ventura was facing Brandon Moss, who homered earlier. Moss hit a Ventura pitch over the center-field fence for a three-run homer. The A’s tacked on another run in the sixth and built their lead to 7-3 before an incredible Royals rally resulted in a 9-8, 12-inning win.

The Royals and Ventura looked like they were headed for a miserable winter. Instead, it’s been an awesome October ride as Kansas City is one win away from its second world championship.

Ventura has made four starts since that messy relief appearance against Oakland and in 25 innings has a 2.52 ERA. There were concerns that his 183 innings during the regular-season might have left him spent, with nothing more to give.

Those concerns were unfounded.

Ventura has been the MVP of the Royals’ starting staff in the postseason.

“Awesome,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said when asked about Ventura’s performance. “A 23-year-old kid pitching in the biggest game this stadium has seen in years. We’ve talked about how special he is and tonight it showed. You cannot get on a bigger stage than he did tonight.”

It probably won’t be Ventura’s last stage.

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Yordano Ventura pitches well beyond his age in KC’s biggest game."