9th win in a Yo for Royals a 1-0 duel

MIAMI — Lorenzo Cain’s RBI single provided starter Yordano Ventura with the only run he needed as the red-hot Royals extended their winning streak to nine games with a 1-0 win over the Marlins on Tuesday night at Marlins Park.

Kansas City remained four games back of Baltimore in the American League Wild Card chase, while Miami is still 1 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the National League Wild Card standings.

“I had a green light, but I originally wasn’t going to swing,” said Cain, who hit a 3-0 pitch that scored Paulo Orlando from second in the sixth inning. “I took a nice easy swing and ended up hitting a ground ball through the middle.”

Ventura improved to 9-9 with six stellar innings. It was his ninth straight start of yielding three earned runs or fewer.

Marlins starter Andrew Cashner (4-10) also went six innings and gave up four hits, but received no run support in a solid start.

“Our guy was throwing it good, their guy was throwing it good. We just couldn’t break through,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of his team’s ninth shutout loss.

Dee Gordon had three of the Marlins’ seven hits. It was Gordon’s fifth three-hit game and fourth at Marlins Park.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDBullpen on record: With three shutout innings behind Ventura, the Royals’ bullpen established a club record for consecutive scoreless frames at 32. The previous mark was 29 2/3 in 1969. Matt Strahm (seventh) and Joakim Soria (eighth) set the table for closer Kelvin Herrera to nail down his eighth save with a …

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