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Sports

Moustakas, Ventura help Royals blank Reds

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Moustakas went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Yordano Ventura tossed seven scoreless innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 in the opener of a two-game series.

Omar Infante drove in the other run for the Royals, who have won four of five. Ventura (3-3) gave up four hits while striking out six and walking nobody in his first win since April 12 against the Angels.

"This is the best I've felt this season," Ventura said with teammate Christian Colon acting as his interpreter. "All my pitches were sharp. I was just focused on having my pitches down in the zone and having quality pitches."

Kelvin Herrera tossed a scoreless eighth and Wade Davis pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save of the season.

The Royals, who beat the New York Yankees 6-0 on Sunday, logged consecutive shutouts for the first time since Sept. 29-30, 1992, when Dennis Rasmussen and Rick Reed blanked the California Angels.

Johnny Cueto (3-4) allowed three runs on nine hits over seven innings for the Reds, who have lost four in a row. The right-hander has pitched at least six innings in every start this season.

"They're a good team. There are no excuses," Cueto said through a translator. "I did what I had to do."

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the second. Eric Hosmer led off with a single, moved to second when Kendrys Morales walked and raced home on Infante's two- out single to left. Paulo Orlando followed with a bunt single to load the bases, but Alcides Escobar lined out.

The Reds left men on second and third in the third when Zack Cozart grounded out and Brayan Pena struck out swinging.

Cincinnati stranded a runner on second in the fifth when Billy Hamilton struck out swinging.

Kansas City tacked on another run in the bottom half. Orlando led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and raced home on Moustakas' double to right.

Moustakas added another RBI double in the seventh. Infante, who led off with a single, scored on Moustakas' two-out double to left-center field.

Game Notes

The Royals improved to 6-1 in their previous seven games against Cincinnati ... The Reds went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and stranded four.