Adam Jones Said Yordano Ventura Has a "Circuit Board Off Balance"

Yordano Ventura hit Manny Machado last night in the bottom of the 5th, with the Royals down 5-1. Machado charged the mound, and things happened.

This isn’t Ventura’s first notable incident at the center of disputes with other teams. He called Jose Bautista a nobody last year. He set off a fight with the White Sox after staring down Adam Eaton on a ground ball back to the mound, that allegedly resulted in Chris Sale trying to fight him in the locker room. He was in the middle of the bean ball battle with the Oakland Athletics after Brett Lawrie slid into Alcides Escobar last April.

So a confrontation with Ventura was brewing, and there will be a few around baseball who will relish him being involved, and probably suspended along with Machado. Adam Jones summed up Ventura thusly:

That’s probably a fair assessment, and I’m not sure even Royals teammates are all that enthralled with Ventura’s continued outbursts, especially if they put team leaders like Eric Hosmer in harm’s way as tensions escalate.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who said he had no problem with Machado charging the mound, said he warned Machado that Ventura was going to try to hit him before the at-bat.

"“I thought he was trying to hit him the at-bat before. That’s why I talked to him before he took his last at-bat. I think he signaled breaking ball and shook to fastball. No, I don’t like when any of my guys are put in harm’s way, especially a guy throwing that hard and having some problems with his command tonight. But not the first time. Obviously, it must be something that’s OK because he continues to do it. It must be condoned. I don’t know.”"

Royals manager Ned Yost publicly wouldn’t acknowledge that it was intentional, though he also didn’t rule it out with Ventura.

"“That’s a tough question to answer,” he said. “You know, Ventura, in Manny’s first at-bat, was pitching him in. Obviously, he didn’t like it. Flew out and was screaming at Ventura. I’m thinking ‘OK, he’s going to pitch him inside again.’ I mean, looked to me like he got away (from that). I don’t know, that’s something you’re going to have to ask him but I don’t know who’s at fault there.” “How can I answer that question, too? I’m not going to answer that question. I mean, you’re telling me if it wasn’t a slip, you want me to make an answer. I’m not going to answer that.”"

Machado will no doubt be suspended. Yordano Ventura will likely join him, as it is doubtful that the MLB powers agree with Ventura’s claims that it was an accident. On a final note, while I am generally anti-Crying Jordan meme, it’s because I feel like it is overdone and often not funny. Props to this usage in the Ventura-Machado fight though.