KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yordano Ventura will start Wednesday night's Game 2 of the World Series against the Giants at Kauffman Stadium having not pitched since being removed from Game 2 of the ALCS in Baltimore on Oct. 11 with shoulder soreness.
Royals manager Ned Yost didn't make much of the 23-year-old with a fastball that reaches the high 90s having to leave due to a problem in a very delicate area of a pitcher's body and Ventura wasn't going to be held out of any later ALCS game had the Royals not swept the Orioles.
Nor is Yost concerned baseball's biggest stage will be too much for the right-hander.
"He will be fine, he's ready,'' the manager said of Ventura, who will be pitching with the Royals in a 1-0 hole after Tuesday's 7-1 loss. "He is a special kid because as young as he is, his composure is off the charts and his competitiveness is off the charts. You combine all those things together and you've got a pretty special guy that's going to step on that mound.''
Jake Peavy will oppose Ventura and the Giants are leaning on the right-hander's knowledge of the Royals as much as his pitching ability.
"With his time in the American League, and he has seen the Royals a lot, so it's obvious that we have asked him a lot of questions and ways where he could help us on a how this club plays, the hitters and things like that,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Obviously, Peavy would prefer to keep the Royals' speed off the bases but knows at some point he will have to control it.
"That's going to be such a huge part of this series,'' Peavy said. "They are 13 of 16 in the postseason. We're going to have to do all we can with varying our times, holding the ball. We've got numerous pickoff plays that we obviously reviewed coming into the series, making sure we have every option and all the ability to stop the running game.''
"For me, my big focus is always to make sure I treat it as the same game,'' Ventura said of pitching in his first World Series game. "Execute every pitch as I have throughout the season. Remain calm and treat it like any other game.
Ventura has adopted Pedro Martinez as a confidant.
"Pedro Martinez has always been that player for me from the Dominican that I learn from and grow from,'' said Ventura, a native of Samana, D.R. "I speak with him more or less every other day at this point and Pedro encourages me to be myself and treat every game just like I always have.''
Bochy said he understands what the Royals taking a lead into the seventh inning means. He watched Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland dominate the Orioles in all four games of the ALCS.
"It's a great pen, great arms, great power arms,'' Bochy said. "You have your work cut out if you are going to try to do something off them. They certainly have a great corps of set-up guys and closer as good as anybody in baseball. I am sure they are going to play a big role. The bullpens are going to play a critical role in this series, ours and theirs.''
Former Yankees infielder Jayson Nix was added to the Royals' World Series roster and Christian Colon was removed.
"The reason we did, because of the National League game, we're more apt to probably double-switch in some spots and quite frankly like Nix's defense a little bit better at third,'' Yost said of Games 3, 4 and 5 in San Francisco where the DH won't be in play. "They both play a solid short but we felt a little more comfortable with Nix at third. Christian's more of an offensive option and Nix is more of a defensive option. We decided to go with the defensive option.''
Yost said he has no problem with two different styles of baseball being played in the World Series where the DH is in play for only four games.
"I think it's different but I kind of like it and I think it's fun to play two styles,'' Yost said. "You play our game [at Kauffman Stadium] and go to the National League and play that style which is pretty different. Our guys, when we play interleague series, the double-switch and pinch hitting for pitcher in the fifth inning, that stuff kind of throws them for a loop but they will be ready.''
Yost said he believes with the Royals' speed and versatile bench his club resembles a National League team.
Yost announced Jeremy Guthrie will start Friday's Game 3 and Jason Vargas goes Saturday in Game 4. The Giants will go with Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong.
There have been nine different World Series winners during the last 13 years. The Red Sox (2004, 2007 and 2013), the Cardinals (2006, 2011) and Giants (2010, 2012) have won during that span.
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