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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura will have to wait a day to try to slow down the potent Boston Red Sox bats. The Red Sox-Royals game scheduled for Monday night at Kauffman Stadium was rained out and will be made up as a day-night doubleheader Wednesday. Ventura, who was scheduled to start Monday, has been pushed back to Tuesday.
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Ventura is 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA in seven starts and has more walks (28) than strikeouts (26). He issued six walks in two starts this season and five in another.
"Even though his walks are up, he's not crazy wild," Royals manager Ned Yost said Monday. "He's just missing off the corners. He's just got to find ways to get a ball over an inch or two over the plate."
Ventura picked up the Royals' only victory in a four-game series last week at Yankee Stadium, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks over six innings. In his previous two starts at Seattle and Cleveland, both losses, he allowed 10 runs on nine hits, including two home runs, and 11 walks in eight innings.
Ventura's velocity is also down a tick -- about two miles per hour -- from past seasons. Ventura's fastball could touch 100 mph and he would work in the upper 90s.
"He's not just out there trying to throw 150 miles per hour," Yost said. "That's why you're seeing better control of his changeup and curveball."
Yost said Ventura is "evolving more into a pitcher."
"But he can still rare back and throw it 97 miles per hour," Yost said.
The Red Sox lineup will test Ventura or any pitcher. Boston averaged 10.4 runs a game during its just concluded 6-1 homestand. Boston has hit 32 home runs in its past 20 game, most in the majors in that span. The Red Sox top the majors with 229 runs, 59 more than the Texas Rangers, who rank second in the American League, and Boston boasts a 298 batting average and .489 slugging percentage.
Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. was named the AL player of the week, after hitting .469 with 15 hits, 15 RBIs, five extra-base hits and a 1.297 OPS.
Red Sox starter Rick Porcello, who is 6-1 with a 3.11 ERA, has been move back from Monday to Tuesday. Porcello is 8-6 with a 4.58 ERA in 20 career starts against the Royals.
The Red Sox Wednesday starters will be right-hander Steven Wright and left-hander David Price, who will pitch the nightcap. The Royals will counter with right-handers Ian Kennedy and Edinson Volquez, but have not announced their order.
NOTES: Red Sox CF Jackie Bradley Jr. was named the American League Player of the Week, the first time he was won the award. ...Detroit RHP Rick Porcello, who starts Tuesday, has held the Royals to two runs or fewer four times in his past six starts. ...Red Sox RF Mookie Betts has tied a Red Sox record for a leadoff hitter with at least one RBI in seven consecutive games. The only others to accomplish that are Dom DiMaggio, 1940, and Chuck Schilling, 1961. ...1B Hanley Ramirez had reached base via hit, walk or hit by pitch in his past 22 games, the longest active streak in the majors. ... Royals 1B Eric Hosmer has a .346 average (9-for-26) with two home runs, off Red Sox RHP Rick Porcello, who starts Tuesday. ...Kansas City RHP Wade Davis suffered his first blown save of the season Sunday against the Braves, giving up his first two runs of the season. "I was very surprised," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "You know it is coming sooner or later. The pace he was on was remarkable."
