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 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.
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.
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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."
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