Yordano Ventura’s MRI suggests he’ll miss ‘a start or two’

Royals’ manager Ned Yost went on MLB Network Radio on Tuesday afternoon, while fans of the Royals and 100-mile-per-hour fastballs awaited the results of Yordano Ventura’s elbow MRI. The news seems to be good, with Yost saying, “The rumor around here is that he’s only going to miss a start or two.” That’s much better than whatever (plausible) doom-and-gloom scenario was dreamed up in the hours between this announcement and Ventura being escorted off the field beside a trainer.

The Royals described Ventura’s injury on Monday as “lateral elbow discomfort.” He was hit hard for five runs and seven hits in under three innings of work, and his fastball dropped to 91 mph against his final batter of the evening. Fearing the worst was a defensible attitude, even without considering that pitchers seem to be dropping left and right with elbow injuries constantly in 2014.

For now, Ventura is in that small, happy bubble in which Chris Sale resides, where an elbow injury didn’t immediately signify the end of his season. As Ventura is going to continue to pitch given his profession, he’s not entirely in the clear even if he is right now, but more Ventura is better than less for a Royals team that has a legitimate shot at the playoffs even without their lineup helping their cause much in the season’s early months.

Prior to Monday’s disaster, the Royals’ rookie hurler owned a 2.80 ERA, had limited opponents to a 650 OPS, and was averaging 6 innings and exactly 100 pitches per start. Kansas City will need more of that if they plan to hang on in what should be a tight American League race this summer, so for both their own and Ventura’s sake, they’ll have to hope “a start or two” doesn’t become something much larger and much worse.