Page 19 - ATD 07 October,2015
P. 19
SPORTS A19
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Royals to give
Ventura start in
Game 1 of ALDS
DAVE SKRETTA Kansas City Royals pitcher
AP Sports Writer Yordano Ventura throws
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — against the Minnesota
The Royals will start hard- Twins in the first inning of a
throwing youngster Yor- baseball game, Saturday,
dano Ventura in Game Oct. 3, 2015, in Minneapolis.
1 of the AL Division Series,
regardless of whether Kan- Associated Press
sas City plays the Yankees
or Astros on Thursday night. But while Cueto has
Royals manager Ned Yost pitched better his last four
announced his starter be- outings, he went through
fore Tuesday’s workout at a long slump in late Au-
Kauffman Stadium. Johnny gust and early September.
Cueto will pitch the sec- Throw in the fact he is just
ond game and Edinson 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA in three
Volquez will start Game 3, playoff starts with the Reds,
with the rest of the rotation and the decision to start
to be announced only if Ventura in the opener be-
Games 4 and 5 are neces- came clear.
sary. Volquez, who will start
“For us, the last two weeks, Game 3 on the road, has
three weeks, all three of lost both of his previous
those guys have been postseason starts.
throwing the ball good,” “Really, your ace is who-
Yost said. “Ventura has ever is pitching that par-
been excellent in his last ticular night. Everybody on
six, seven starts. your playoff roster is there
And we wanted to keep to help you win games,”
everybody on five days’ said Royals general man-
rest. We thought that ager Dayton Moore when
would work out best for us.” asked about Cueto start-
The 24-year-old Ventura ing Game 2. “We’re going
weathered a rollercoaster to need everyone in our
year that saw him briefly rotation.”
banished to Triple-A Oma- Yost was still considering
ha. But the star of Game the rest of his playoff ros-
6 of last year’s World Se- ter Tuesday, though he did
ries rebounded down the say it would not depend
stretch, flashing his 100 on whether New York or
mph fastball while going Houston wins the AL wild-
4-1 with a 3.14 ERA in seven card game.
starts in September. The bigger issue for Yost
He allowed one run and was finding the right bal-
four hits over seven innings ance between speed and
— striking out 11 — on Sat- power off the bench.
urday in Minnesota. “We like the speed as-
That string of success pect. You like to have the
earned Ventura the Game extra bat, too,” he said.
1 nod over the 29-year-old “But sometimes you have
Cueto, whom many ex- to choose between one
pected to anchor the Roy- or the other. We’ll make a
als’ playoff rotation when final decision on that prob-
he was acquired from Cin- ably tomorrow.”q
cinnati in July.
