Royals’ Yordano Ventura is wild again in 7-1 loss to the Indians

Yordano Ventura was teetering on a high wire, a can of gasoline in one hand, a baseball in the other, the opening night of a baseball road trip set to end very badly on Friday at Progressive Field.

It was the bottom of the third inning, and Ventura had already walked five batters, allowed two runs and nearly been decapitated by a line drive from the bat of Indians center fielder Rajai Davis. (The ball mercifully found his glove.) He could not locate the strike zone with his fastball, and his curveball had turned loopy, and the lack of command was threatening to derail another start.

As Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez stepped into the batter’s box, the bases remained loaded with two outs. Ventura peered toward home plate. The Royals were on the ropes.

Ventura unleashed a 91-mph two-seam fastball on a 2-1 pitch. Ramirez roped a three-run double into the left-center gap. Ventura was tumbling from his perch as the Royals suffered a quick knockout, falling 7-1 to the Indians in the opening round of a three-game series.

At the heart of the loss was a starting pitcher who could not find his release point.

“Things are just not coming out the way he feels like they should,” said Royals catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Ventura in the moments after the loss.

When the night was done, the Royals had faded back to .500 for the first time since April 7. They sit at 14-14 entering Saturday afternoon’s contest.

And the rest of the statistical context is no prettier: The Royals have now lost eight of 10 overall and eight of nine on the road.

The Kansas City offense, which entered Friday ranked tied for 13th in the American League in runs scored, was nearly shut out for the fourth time in the last eight days. (Alex Gordon finally broke through with an RBI single in the ninth.)

But the most concerning development on Friday may not have been the too-quiet offense or the now .500 record. Instead, it might have been Ventura, the enigmatic right-hander, who was wild and erratic for the second straight start.

Ventura, 2-2, allowed five runs and six hits in four innings, issuing five walks while striking out just three. His ERA bloated to 4.65 after six starts. In his last two outings he has walked 11 batters in eight innings. For the season, Ventura has issued 25 walks in 31 innings. He is averaging 7.25 walks per nine innings, more than double his previous career high.

Ventura blamed a minor mechanical issue for the rash of wildness.

“He feels like he’s flying open with his upper body, and the ball is just taking off on him,” Grifol said, translating for Ventura. “It’s coming over the plate when he’s trying to throw the ball on the outside, and it feels like he’s just flying open a little bit.”

Royals manager Ned Yost maintained that Ventura is not far from the best version of himself, that the issues are minute.

That did little to soothe the immediate sting from Friday’s performance. Ventura said he felt just a little off during his bullpen session before the game. He could not find a way to adjust.

“He’s just barely missing,” Yost said. “He’s not crazy wild. It’s just a little. It’s a combination of not getting some calls, but he’s not crazy wild. He’s just missing off the plate and just missing down.”

The latest flameout came just two days after the Royals suffered a 13-2 beating to the Washington Nationals at Kauffman Stadium, ending a brief home stand. As they began a seven-game road trip in Cleveland, Yost spoke of maintaining the proper energy level and battling through the slump that has gripped his team. He conceded the energy waned on Friday.

“Not tonight,” Yost said. “Energy dropped down a little bit.”

The result could be seen across the diamond. And what took place on the mound did not help. In the last week, the Royals’ starting pitching has been shaky to the point that Yost dipped into the minors on Friday and added left-handed reliever Brian Flynn to the bullpen.

His presence was needed immediately. He allowed two earned runs in four innings in his Royals debut, saving the bullpen from further over-use.

The offense, meanwhile, could not inflict any damage on Indians starter Danny Salazar, who threw 7  2/3 scoreless innings and lowered his ERA to 1.91. The Royals finished the night with eight hits but left eight runners on base.

In the last 10 games the offense has mustered just 16 runs, which leads to an obvious question: Was Friday night a case of bad offense or sterling pitching? Yost sought to credit Salazar.

“You see that split that he was throwing?” Yost said. “Ninety-seven-mile-per-hour fastball and that split, and mixing in sliders with that, too? That’s dynamic pitching right there.”

For once, the struggles of Ventura and the general malaise over the past two weeks turned the offensive issues into a footnote. In a series opener in Cleveland, Ventura was decked with five runs in the opening three innings. From there, the Royals had no answer.

“Hopefully,” Ventura said, “we can get out of this.”

Indians 7, Royals 1

E: Kipnis (1). LOB: Kansas City 9, Cleveland 9. 2B: Ramirez 2 (6). RBIs: Gordon (6), Napoli 2 (19), Ramirez 5 (12). CS: Cain (3).

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 3 (Hosmer, Dyson 2); Cleveland 5 (Chisenhall 2, Kipnis, Santana 2). RISP: Kansas City 2 for 4; Cleveland 3 for 11.

Runners moved up: Napoli, Davis. GIDP: Santana, Kipnis, Brantley. DP: Kansas City 3 (Infante, Escobar, Hosmer), (Flynn, Escobar, Hosmer), (Escobar, Infante, Hosmer).

Umpires: Home, Mike DiMuro; First, Ryan Blakney; Second, Quinn Wolcott; Third, Mark Carlson.

Time: 2:44. Att: 13,587.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Royals’ Yordano Ventura is wild again in 7-1 loss to the Indians."