Kansas City Royals honor Yordano Ventura in home opener

The Kansas City Royals honor Yordano Ventura in pre-game ceremony of the home opener versus the Oakland Athletics

Following a rocky road trip to begin the 2017 campaign, the Kansas City Royals faced off against the Oakland Athletics in the first game played at Kauffman since the tragic passing of Royals starting pitcher, Yordano Ventura.

Ventura passed away this January in a car wreck in the Dominican Republic. During an offseason of firsts without Ventura, the Kansas City Royals organization planned a special final piece of the healing process for the players and fans.

An emotional moment came when Alex Gordon and Danny Duffy led a group of Royals onto the field carrying a banner with the words “ACE 30” honoring the late Yordano Ventura. The banner was identical to the patch that the Royals will have on the sleeve of their uniforms during the 2017 season.

The special pregame tribute continued with Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer addressing the crowd. Hosmer said of Ventura, “There is no place that felt more like home, than being on that mound in front of all of you guys.”

The pre-game ceremony concluded with Royals manager Ned Yost escorting Ventura’s mother, Marisol Hernandez, and grandfather, Raul Hernandez, out to the mound to throw out the first pitch to Royals catcher Salvador Perez.

Prior to throwing out the first pitch, Marisol inscribed the Spanish word for God “Dios” into the mound where her son once pitched.  After the pitch Marisol was embraced by Ventura’s former teammate Salvador Perez.

The Kansas City Royals went on to drop the home opener to the Oakland Athletics 2-0. The A’s were led to victory by seven innings of shutout baseball from Jharel Cotton and a two-run home-run from slugging right fielder Khris Davis.

The Royals (2-5) and Athletics (4-4) will resume their three game series on Wednesday night. Jason Hammel will take the mound for the Royals countered by Andrew Triggs for the Athletics.