KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Royals starter Yordano Ventura crouched at the back of the mound before Friday's game against the Cleveland Indians and poked a finger into the dirt.
He carved out the initials of Miami Marlins star Jose Fernandez, who died Sunday, and Oscar Taveras, the Cardinals player who died in a car accident in 2014. The initials of both players, whose deaths shook baseball then and now, were written on Ventura's cap.
Ventura's warm-up pitches were uneventful, save for his second, which skipped wildly past catcher Drew Butera, perhaps an indicator of his night ahead. One inning proved to be the downfall for Ventura and the Royals, who lost 7-2 at Kauffman Stadium.
The Indians did their damage against Ventura in the third inning as they turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead.
Cleveland's Roberto Perez drew a walk following a leadoff single by Tyler Naquin and both scored when Carlos Santana's liner eluded a leaping Paulo Orlando in center. Jason Kipnis' sacrifice fly to right scored Santana for a 3-1 advantage.
The Indians tacked on another run when Francisco Lindor doubled high off the wall in the right, took third on a flyout and scored on Jose Ramirez's single.
In the frame, 21 of Ventura's 27 pitches were fastballs as he failed to keep the Indians off balance and they made him pay.
Ventura escaped damage in the sixth inning despite walking leadoff hitter Mike Napoli ahead of a Ramirez double. Lonnie Chisenhall and Rajai Davis both struck out and Naquin hit a harmless check-swing roller back to Ventura.
Lindor's three-run homer off Brian Flynn in the seventh inning merely added to a deficit that had proved too big for the Royals to overcome.
Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer's RBI single off Indians rookie Ryan Merritt in the first inning scored Billy Burns, and when Kendrys Morales followed with a single, it seemed like a big inning might be in store.
Instead, Paulo Orlando grounded into a double play and the Royals didn't have another base runner until Hunter Dozier's one-out single in the eighth inning. Merritt, Dan Otero and Bryan Shaw combined to retire 20 straight.
Drew Butera followed with an RBI triple off Andrew Miller to get the Royals a second run.
The offensive struggles meant Ventura will finish the year with an 11-12 record after allowing four earned runs Friday on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts over six innings.
It was an uneven performance in an uneven season. Entering Friday, Ventura had a 2.43 ERA in 19 starts this season; in the other 12 his ERA was 8.58.
Because this was his third full season in the rotation, it's easy to forget sometimes that Ventura is just 25 years old.
His best season remains the 2014 rookie campaign, which was capped by his stirring performance in Game 6 of the World Series. Hurting from the death of countryman Taveras two days earlier, Ventura threw seven shutout innings of three-hit ball against the San Francisco Giants in an elimination game.
That game seems like a distant memory for Royals fans, but it's a reminder of what Ventura can bring to the rotation in 2017. And, clearly the memory of Tavares' death remains strong for Ventura.
