Royals starter Yordano Ventura crouched at the back of the mound before Friday’s game against the Cleveland Indians and poked a finger into the dirt.
He carved out the initials of Miami Marlins star Jose Fernandez, who died Sunday, and Oscar Taveras, the Cardinals player who died in a car accident in 2014. The initials of both players, whose deaths shook baseball then and now, were written on Ventura’s cap.
Ventura’s warm-up pitches were uneventful, save for his second, which skipped wildly past catcher Drew Butera, perhaps an indicator of his night ahead. One inning proved to be the downfall for Ventura and the Royals, who lost 7-2 in front of an announced crowd of 24,741 at Kauffman Stadium.