The Kansas City Royals might have to continue their postseason push without Yordano Ventura after the pitcher suffered a shoulder injury in his Game 2 start in the American League Championship Series.
The Royals made an official diagnosis:
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports first reported the injury.
Eye on Baseball and Jesse Spector of Sporting News had an update after the game:
Another warning sign was his diminished velocity, as Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs pointed out:
Ventura shut down the Los Angeles Angels in his only other start of the postseason, allowing just one run in seven innings to help the Royals win Game 2 of the American League Division Series. This is just a continuation of what he showcased all year long, tallying a 14-10 record with a 3.20 ERA in his first full season in the majors.
While James Shields is considered the team’s ace thanks to his past success and experience, Ventura had the best ERA of all of Kansas City’s qualified starters (Danny Duffy had a better mark but did not pitch enough innings).
The Royals will hope this injury does not turn out to be serious in case he is needed later in the series or in the Fall Classic. Otherwise, the team will need more production out of Duffy, Jason Vargas and possibly Jeremy Guthrie.
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