KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yordano Ventura's locker sits next to that of Edinson Volquez in the Kansas City clubhouse, and two down from Johnny Cueto, who arrived last month in a trade from Cincinnati.
In other words, he gets plenty of veteran advice.
"I believe Johnny's had a big impact on Ventura the last three or four starts," Royals Manager Ned Yost said after his young right-hander's impressive performance in a 5-3 victory over Baltimore.
"Every once in a while, you hear it from the pitching coach, and then you hear it from a teammate and it sinks in," he said.
Exactly what "it" might be is anyone's guess, but the results have been obvious: Ventura (9-7) struck out a career-high 11 in just 6 innings Thursday, allowing only 2 hits and four walks while improving to 5-0 in his last 7 starts.
"There's been a lot of work put in preparing to get better," Ventura said with catching coach Pedro Grifol serving as a translator. "I feel like this was one of my better outings."
The Royals' usually solid bullpen nearly gave it away, though. Kelvin Herrera served up a home run to Ryan Flaherty in the seventh, and Greg Holland allowed two more runs in the ninth before getting Gerardo Parra to ground out with a runner on to end the game.
Chris Tillman (9-9), who tossed a five-hitter at Kauffman Stadium last May, followed his first loss since May 31 with another. He allowed four runs over six innings.
The game wasn't all that Baltimore lost either.
All-Star outfielder Adam Jones left soon after crashing into the wall trying to track down a fly ball in the first. Jones was down on the warning track for a few minutes before standing up and finishing the inning. Paul Janish replaced him as a pinch hitter.
"He feels a lot better now than he did. His vision was -- most of it was whiplash," Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said. "I don't think there's any head trauma, concussion-wise."
Showalter said that Jones would be evaluated today in Texas.
"Any time Adam says anything's bothering him," Showalter said, "you'd better multiply it times two because he's a tough nut."
The first five outs Ventura recorded were strikeouts. He later struck out Matt Wieters to leave runners on second and third. Ventura eventually surpassed his career-best of 10 strikeouts set last May by fanning Wieters for the third time with a 99 mph fastball.
Paulo Orlando contributed a sacrifice fly for the Royals, while hot-hitting Mike Moustakas drove in two runs and Salvador Perez added an RBI single.
The AL Central-leading Royals took three of four in the series, and have won 10 of their last 11 against the Orioles. Baltimore, which began the day two back of the final wild-card spot, still has not won back-to-back games since sweeping Oakland earlier this month.
The start of the game was delayed by 1 hour, 35 minutes, as a storm rolled through.
Ventura followed up the thunder with some lightning of his own, an assortment of fastballs that nipped at 100 mph and kept the slumping Orioles flailing.
Ventura had at least two strikeouts each of his first four innings.
"He was good," Showalter said. "We had him close to 30 pitches the first inning, we let him get back in step second or third inning or he could have had a lot shorter outing."
ANGELS 2, TIGERS 0 Matt Shoemaker pitched one-hit ball into the eighth inning in his hometown ballpark, Albert Pujols drove in one run and scored another, and visiting Los Angeles beat Detroit. The Angels began the day trailing Minnesota by one game for the second American League wild-card spot, with Texas also a half-game ahead of them. Shoemaker (6-9) dominated the Tigers in his first game in Detroit, permitting just a single by Anthony Gose in the third. Shoemaker walked 1 and struck out 5 in 7 1/3 innings. Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 31st save, finishing the combined two-hitter. Randy Wolf (0-2) pitched well enough to win in his second start since June 2014. He gave up 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings, striking out 5.
RANGERS 4, BLUE JAYS 1 Yovani Gallardo earned his 100th career victory, Delino DeShields had a part in all of the Texas runs even without an RBI and the host Rangers stopped Toronto's five-game winning streak. The AL East-leading Blue Jays lead the majors with 5.4 runs per game, and had outscored opponents 54-19 during their recent string. With two runners on in the seventh, DeShields hit a single that rolled past charging right fielder Jose Bautista. The ball wound up on the warning track and DeShields circled the bases for a 4-0 lead. Gallardo (11-9) threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He became the fourth native of Mexico to win 100 games, joining Fernando Valenzuela (173), Esteban Loaiza (126) and Ismael Valdez (104). Shawn Tolleson worked the ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances. Sam Dyson got Troy Tulowitzki to ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh. DeShields finished 2 for 2 with three walks. Marco Estrada (11-8) took the loss.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 9, CUBS 1 Kelby Tomlinson hit a grand slam for his first career home run and Marlon Byrd added a three-run shot, leading Madison Bumgarner and San Francisco over visiting Chicago. The victory moved the Giants within 5½ games of the Cubs for the second NL wild-card spot. Bumgarner (16-6) struck out 12 in 6 innings, giving up 1 run and 2 hits. He won his fifth consecutive start and matched the Cubs' Jake Arrieta for most victories in the majors. Tomlinson hit his home run off James Russell in the eighth inning and received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd when he took his position at second base in the ninth. Matt Duffy and Juan Perez also drove in runs for the Giants, who won their second consecutive but are 3-5 over their past eight games. Dan Haren (8-9) lasted 6 1/3 innings, his longest outing since going seven against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 9, a span of 15 starts.
DODGERS 1, REDS 0 Zack Greinke and two relievers combined on a four-hitter and Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of host Cincinnati. Greinke (14-3) lowered his major league-best ERA to 1.61 and allowed 4 hits over 7 innings while leading Los Angeles to its first sweep of a series in Cincinnati since a three-game set in July 2009. He finished with two walks and nine strikeouts. He improved to 7-2 in 12 games against Cincinnati.
Sports on 08/28/2015