Yordano Ventura rebounds, Royals offense kicks into gear in 7-3 victory over Yankees

The noise penetrated through a thick brick wall and echoed out into a Yankee Stadium concourse on late Wednesday night, the sound of baseball players shouting in jubilation as their old anthem blared from a high-powered stereo.

Inside the visitors clubhouse, in the moments after a 7-3 victory over the New York Yankees, Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” was cranked up to ear-splitting levels. Inside his office, Royals manager Ned Yost could hear the remnants of a post-game party.

“I love to hear that sound,” Yost said.

After 11 losses in 14 games, after waiting for their starting rotation to break an early-season slump, after plenty of hand-wringing and stress over the last two-plus weeks, the Royals could finally breathe again after a much-needed victory in the Bronx.

“To get it going tonight, a huge win,” said center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who contributed a crucial bases-loaded single in the sixth inning, offering a measure of insurance.

How big was it? Let’s go to the check list: After a run of two dismal starts, starting pitcher Yordano Ventura finally delivered some goods, allowing just three runs in six innings and saving a taxed bullpen from another busy night. The performance was not immaculate. The night, perhaps, was just a small step forward. But for a struggling team — and an embattled starting rotation — the line score was like a gift from the baseball gods.

For just the third time in 15 games, a Royals pitcher had put up a “quality” start. Ventura gave his struggling team an opportunity to bury their recent string of losing.

“Ventura went out there and pitched a great game and kept our bullpen fresh, which we really needed,” Cain said. “Hopefully this game points us in the right direction.”

The victory, of course, was mostly the result of a ever-resurgent offense, which carried the day with seven runs on nine hits. Salvador Perez drilled a three-run homer — his fifth of the season — just one day after turning 26 years old. Cain maintained his torrid May, driving in two runs on a line-drive single just one day after lighting up Yankee Stadium for three home runs. (The base hit was the Royals’ first with the bases loaded all season.) Kendrys Morales hit another homer in the top of the seventh, his fourth of the season.

The Royals, 16-17, pulled within one game of .500 entering the series finale on Thursday night. Right-hander Ian Kennedy will take the mound with an opportunity to push his team back even in the standings entering a weekend series against the Atlanta Braves at Kauffman Stadium.

Yet for the Royals, this night was about the health, talent and mental well-being of Ventura, who had battled command issues and his own bio-mechanics for the better part of two weeks.

In his last two starts, Ventura had coughed up a combined 10 runs in eight innings while issuing 11 walks. EnteringWednesday night, no starting pitcher in baseball had walked more batters per nine innings. As Ventura prepared for this start, he conferenced with Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland, working through another important bullpen session. The problems, Eiland said this week, were not complicated. Ventura’s front side was flying open during his delivery, leaving his release point an inconsistent mess. The problem: Ventura was having trouble making the adjustment.

“He gets out in the heat of the battle, and he can’t maintain it,” Eiland said.

In his last start, the adjustment proved elusive yet again, so Ventura backed off the throttle. As a result, his velocity dipped a few ticks — his fastball leveling off in the low 90s — and still, his command was no better.

“He thought, ‘If I back off, maybe my command will be better,’” Eiland said. “Well, that’s not the case.”

On Wednesday, Ventura found the right release point. He still walked three batters while throwing 98 pitches — including just 52 for strikes — and he allowed a solo homer to former Royals center fielder Carlos Beltran while getting nicked for two runs in the second inning.

But Ventura came through when it counted, spending much of the night evading trouble with runners on base. He escaped a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the second. He navigated around two runners in scoring position in the fifth, allowing just one run to score and keeping the Royals’ lead intact at 4-3.

Ventura was not sharp all night, but when he was challenged, he executed his pitches with blood in the mouth. All day, he said, he was just focused on going deep into the game.

“That was his mentality since last night,” Royals catching coach Pedro Grifol said, translating for Ventura. “He was thinking about it.”

For the Royals, that's all they needed. On Tuesday, they had hit four homers in an excruciating 10-7 loss. One day later, they tapped into the power surge again, striking for four runs against Yankees starter Michael Pineda in the top of the first.

Alex Gordon opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Perez teed off on a 1-1 slider from Pineda, crushing a 408-foot homer into the seats in left field. In seconds, the Royals had a 4-0 lead in the Bronx.

After 11 losses in 14 games, they were finally set to roll.

Royals 7, Yankees 3

LOB: Kansas City 9, New York 8. 2B: Castro (8), Beltran (7). HR: Perez (5), off Pineda; Morales (4), off Coke; Beltran (7), off Ventura. RBIs: Cain 2 (17), Morales (13), Gordon (8), Perez 3 (18), McCann (15), Beltran (15), Headley (4). CS: Escobar (2). SF: Gordon.

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 3 (Hosmer 2, Cuthbert); New York 7 (Castro 3, Ackley, Gregorius, Gamel 2). RISP: Kansas City 2 for 6; New York 1 for 13. Runners moved up: Escobar, Gregorius 2, McCann, Headley, Ackley. GIDP: Cuthbert. DP: New York 1 (Castro, Gregorius, Ackley).

TableStyle: SP-basepitchersCCI Template: SP-basepitchers

Goody pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored: Goody 2-2, Coke 2-0. HBP: Pineda 2 (Cain,Gordon), Goody (Escobar), Davis (Gardner). WP: Ventura.

Umpires: Home, Sean Barber; First, Will Little; Second, Ted Barrett; Third, Angel Hernandez. Time: 3:18. Att: 31,226.

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Yordano Ventura rebounds, Royals offense kicks into gear in 7-3 victory over Yankees."