NEW YORK -- Yordano Ventura maintained his swagger after getting cuffed around in a 9-3 loss to the New York Mets in Game 3 of the World Series. When asked if the Kansas City Royals can win a title without a return trip to Kauffman Stadium, he responded in the affirmative.
"I think we can finish it off right here," Ventura said through teammate and interpreter Christian Colon. "There's two more games here, and I know that we can get it done here. We play hard and I don't expect it to go back to Kansas City."
In light of the way Ventura pitched Friday night, the Royals would rather not contemplate the idea of sending him back out there in a Game 7.
Ventura's postseason starts are always high on the unpredictability factor. Everybody knows about the velocity on his fastball and the break on his curve. But questions abound when he's entrusted with the responsibility of performing on the big October stage.
Will he keep his emotions in check and stay focused on the task at hand? Can he maintain his command two or three starts through the opposing team's batting order? And can he keep the game close for five or six innings before manager Ned Yost pops out of the dugout and starts running through his bullpen options?
The answer became clear early in Game 3: While Mets starter Noah Syndergaard overcame a shaky start to pitch six solid innings, Ventura brought a whole lot of nothing.
After the Royals entrusted him with a 1-0 first-inning lead, Ventura gave it back by surrendering a two-run homer to David Wright on his sixth pitch of the evening. Kansas City rebounded to take a 3-2 lead, but Ventura gave that one back by yielding a two-run shot to Curtis Granderson in the third.
Ventura showed a puzzling drop-off in velocity. After throwing four straight fastballs to Granderson at 96, 97, 98 and 97 mph to start the game, he progressively dipped into the 92-94 range. And he basically abandoned his heater in the third inning, throwing seven straight cutters, curveballs and changeups to Wright, Daniel Murphy and Yoenis Cespedes.
Ventura averaged 94.0 mph on his fastball on the evening -- compared to 97.6, 96.1, 97.0 and 95.9 in his four previous starts this postseason. The Mets were 5-for-8 with two homers and a double against the fastball, and opposing hitters are now batting .360 (18-for-50) against Ventura's heater in the playoffs and World Series this year.
While Yost speculated that Ventura might have been affected by the chilly weather at Citi Field (the game-time temperature was 52 degrees and it gradually dipped into the high 40s), Ventura declined to use the atmospheric conditions as a crutch.
"I think it was more just commanding my pitches -- making sure that I was executing my pitches -- and I didn't do that tonight," Ventura said. "A lot of pitches were coming back over the plate, and that's what happens when you leave them up."
Shortly after Ventura mixed in a brain cramp in the fourth inning -- neglecting to cover first base on a Michael Conforto ground ball -- Yost decided he had seen enough. He went to the bullpen with the intention of cobbling things together with short stints by Danny Duffy, Luke Hochevar, Franklin Morales, Ryan Madson and Kelvin Herrera. But that plan went awry when the Mets struck for four runs against the Morales-Herrera combination in the sixth inning.
Morales' pitch selection was something short of inspired. After throwing four straight fastballs to a rusty Juan Uribe, he hung a curveball that the savvy veteran lined into right field for an RBI single.
"I missed one pitch to Uribe, and I paid," Morales said. "Bad pitch, bad location."
The lowlight of the Royals' evening came right after that, when Morales fielded a Granderson comebacker that looked like a double play-in-waiting. Morales thought he heard Royals catcher Salvador Perez yell "home," and by the time he collected himself and bounced a distracted throw to second base, the Mets had the bases loaded and were on their way.
Morales allowed four earned runs in one-third of an inning Friday, and now has a cumulative 29.73 World Series ERA with the Colorado Rockies and the Royals. That's the highest ERA of any pitcher who's thrown at least three innings in World Series history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Royals recovered from a 2-1 deficit against Houston to win the American League Division Series, and put away Toronto in six games to win the AL pennant, so they're not about to let one shoddy night in Flushing deter them. For what it's worth, Yost has a lot of faith in Kansas City's Game 4 starter, Chris Young, who has been excellent in the postseason.
"He's the ultimate competitor," Yost said. "Nothing is going to mess with him -- the weather or anything else. He's going to go out and execute pitches and keep us in the ballgame until we get to our pen."
That will be a welcome departure from Game 3, when the non-competitive version of Yordano Ventura showed up at the least opportune time.