KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Yordano Ventura was dazzling in his season debut, but the Kansas City Royals failed to give the hard-throwing rookie any run support.
Ventura held Tampa Bay to two hits in six shutout innings before James Loney hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth, lifting the Rays to a 1-0 victory Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay starter Chris Archer wriggled out of two bases-loaded jams and went seven innings in an impressive pitchers’ duel between top young arms. Ventura struck out six, walked none and allowed only one runner past first base, when Ben Zobrist doubled in the fourth.
“He threw 62 strikes and 32 balls,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was commanding his stuff. Ventura was really throwing good fastballs, triple digits at times. He threw some good breaking balls, but really had a good changeup working to keep them off balance. He matched up against a good pitcher and came out with nothing to show for it.”
Loney’s grounder to right scored Wil Myers, who snapped an 0-for-15 slump when he reached on an infield single to start the ninth. Myers advanced on a two-out wild pitch by Greg Holland (0-1).
“That’s what you’re looking for, a softly hit ball,” Holland said. “That’s not the first time that someone hits one soft and gets on first. Those things happen and unfortunately I didn’t get us out of it.”
Joel Peralta (1-1) struck out Danny Valencia with the bases loaded, and Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his second save.
Ventura fanned Myers three times.
Archer pitched out of bases-loaded, one-out jams in the third and sixth. He induced Eric Hosmer to ground into a double play to end the third. In the sixth, Archer retired Alex Gordon on an infield popup and Valencia on a grounder to leave the bases full.
“Twice we had the bases loaded with one out and couldn’t muster a run,” Yost said. “Archer was on top of his game. He had some nasty stuff working.”
The Royals loaded the bases again in the eighth against Jake McGee and Peralta, but Valencia looked at three straight strikes from Peralta to end the inning.
Mike Moustakas, hitless in his first 21 at-bats this season, opened the Royals ninth with a single to center but went no further.
Tampa Bay missed an opportunity in the eighth when Royals reliever Wade Davis walked Matt Joyce and plunked pinch-hitter Logan Forsythe with a pitch. Davis recovered to strike out Yunel Escobar and David DeJesus.
Royals starting pitchers have a 1.94 ERA through the first seven games.
“I don’t think you could be any happier with the starting pitching,” Holland said. “We kind of got a taste of that last year with good starting pitching. We know we’re going to play close games. That’s the kind of team we are. We play good defense. The starting pitching is good, so you’ve got to be ready at the back end of the bullpen because you’re going to have a lot of those tight games.”
NOTES: The Rays placed LHP Matt Moore on the 15-day disabled list with an elbow injury. An MRI exam was inconclusive and Moore will see Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday for further exams. … The Rays recalled LHP Jeff Beliveau from Triple-A Durham. … Tests revealed Royals 2B Omar Infante has a sprained jaw, but no fracture, after being struck by a pitch from Heath Bell in the seventh inning Monday. Infante, who needed six stiches, will be evaluated over the next 48 hours, but the preliminary diagnosis was that he would not miss many games. … Valencia made his first big league start at second base.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.