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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yordano Ventura was not at his best, but good enough to end a personal losing drought.Ventura pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Kendrys Morales hit a grand slam, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 Sunday.As far as stuff-wise and command, it obviously wasnt one of his best games, but his mental toughness was great, Royals catcher Drew Butera said. Thats what we need out of him. Somedays youre not going to have your best stuff. He came out and battled. He didnt get too flustered on the mound and stayed within himself.Ventura (7-9), who was 0-5 in seven starts since a June 17 victory over the Detroit Tigers, limited the Blue Jays to one run and five singles in 6 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out four.The Blue Jays had four hits and two walks in the first four innings, but wound up stranding eight men and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position.I was fighting the whole game, Ventura said with catching coach Pedro Grifol as his interpreter. I didnt feel comfortable with my mechanics early, but the goal was to keep us in the ball game until we could score some runs and we did.Morales third career grand slam and his first since July 30, 2012, while with the Los Angeles Angels came off left-hander Brett Cecil with two out in the eighth to break the game open. Raul Mondesi, Alcides Escobar and Cheslor Cuthbert led off the inning with singles. It appeared Toronto might escape unharmed after Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer struck out, but Morales hit Cecils first pitch out to straight-away center.I went up to the plate with an aggressive mindset and he threw a fastball and I was able to make good hard contact, Morales said through a translator. It was a high fastball, mask high and I was able to catch it out front.Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (8-5) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings. He threw 95 pitches before being replaced by Scott Feldman.Drew Butera and Mondesi delivered run-producing singles in the second. Butera cracked his bat on his hit to bring home Alex Gordon, while Mondesis bunt single scored Paulo Orlando, who logged his fourth straight multi-hit game.Theyre a dynamic team with their speed, Stroman said. They dont have to beat you with homers. Theyre looking to move the ball, move guys. Very fast and they put the ball in play.Escobar homered -- only his second of the season -- to lead off the fifth.Ventura was pulled after walking Darwin Barney and giving up a single to Devon Travis with two out in the seventh. Peter Moylan replaced Ventura and struck out Jose Bautista, but not before a wild pitch allowed Barney to score.Today was a little frustrating, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. Its always tough to play here. Theyre world champs. Theyre that for a reason and they held us in check. We really havent been swinging that good since the beginning of the last homestand. Weve been in kind of a rut, so were due to explode.TRAINERS ROOMBlue Jays: CF Kevin Pillar jammed his left thumb sliding into second base Saturday and not in the lineup as a precaution.UP NEXTBlue Jays: RHP R.A. Dickey, who is second in the AL with 12 losses, will start against the Rays in the opener of a six-game homestand. Tampa Bay will start RHP Jake Odorizzi.Royals: After a day off Monday, Edinson Volquez will start Tuesday against the White Sox. Volquez has a 9.82 ERA in losing his past two starts. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. NFL Jerseys China . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. http://www.cheapnfljerseysbest.com/ . "I was fortunate to play many years at this level with a great organization and unbelievable teammates," said Hejduk in a statement. Supply Cheap NFL Jerseys .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. Wholesale NFL Store . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. The story of a retired alcoholic sportswriter and his obsession with a spin bowler called Pradeep Mathew, who he believes to be the greatest Sri Lankan cricketer ever, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew is a peek into Sri Lanka through cricket. The book, which Michael Ondaatje called a crazy, ambidexterous delight and Sidin Vadukut reviewed as unputdownable on ESPNcricinfo, is Shehan Karunatilakas debut novel. The following is an extract from it.The Match That Would Never ExistThe first test of the 1987 New Zealand tour to Sri Lanka was known as the Kuruppu test, due to the aforementioned wicketkeeper batsman spending every minute of it on the field. The match was as dreary as Kuruppus unbeaten 201, the first double century by a Sri Lankan, quite possibly the dullest innings ever. Stretched over 778 soggy minutes, it remains the slowest double century in history.Kuruppu was dropped on 31, 70, 165, and 181 and scooped most of his runs from pushing into the covers with his bottom hand. Then the Kiwis got in on the action with Hadlee and Jeff Crowe adding two equally yawn-worthy centuries as the match lurched to a non-climax. Days later, a car bomb at the Colombo central bus station killed 113 and wounded 300. The LTTE had struck at the heart of Colombo for neither the first nor the last time, as New Zealand cricket would find out again five years later.In 1992, the exploding motorbike that disposed of Navy chief Clancy Kobbekaduwa in front of the touring teams hotel, landed body parts quite literally at the feet of the horrified Kiwis. Gavin Larsen, another medium pacer who could bat a bit, almost trod on a severed hand. That tragedy splintered the New Zealand team, with five players and manager Wally Lees returning home and Sri Lanka trouncing a weakened Kiwi outfit.1987s bomb had no such compromise. As soon as the death count of Colombos then biggest tragedy hit the headlines, the New Zealanders had their bags packed. It was the coaxing of the Minister that convinced them to play a second test in Asgiriya.Three reasons: the Minister was instrumental in the construction of this stadium in the hills and guaranteed a closed event with tight security; the Minister was also instrumental in NZ dairy exporter Anchors near monopoly of the local milk powder market; the Minister had a smirk that was difficult to refuse.The second test was closed to the public and only selected members of the press were invited. I then worked for the Sun, a short-lived tabloid that made up in free tickets what it lacked in print quality. I received an invitation to cover the match and I took my friend Ari along as my photographer.We were body-searched and stripped of our alcohol. Our stand was populated by the press and the players guests. The pavilion was filled with politicians and VIPs, the stands around the players dressing rooms were empty, and the rest of the stadium was bare.These were the days before multiple cricket channels. Even school games and club matches attracted half-full stadiums. To see a test match in a cricket-starved nation played before an empty stadium was farcical. As was the notion that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam would want to assassinate curly-haired medium pacers from Waipukarau.The Asgiriya pitch was not expecting call-up for international duties that year and had been hosting U-13 matting encounters between Trinity and St Anthonys. The surface had only three days preparation, a fact kept from the already nervous New Zealanders.The press box had a lone fax machine, a few typewriters, and three dust-ridden overhead fans. There was a bar that served warm beer and a birds eye view of the pitch. The commentary boxes upstairs sent rumbles across the ceiling. The usual suspects spread themselves across empty chairs and absorbed the action.As members of the press, we were informed that this test was a goodwill game between the SLBCC and the NZCB and was yet to be officially recognized by the ICC. That due to the prevalent situation in the country, our match reports would have to be approved by the government censor.Cricket in Czechoslovakia must be like this, said Ari as we took our assigned seats with a whos who of NZ sportswriting. Called this not for their fame or infamy, but because neither Ari nor I knew who was who.New Zealand played an unchanged XI, while Sri Lanka replaced spinner Anurasiri and paceman Kurupparachchi with spinner Mathew and paceman Ramanayake. The first session proved a fascinating contest. Accurate bowling by the two Ratnayakes matched by cautious defence by Franklin and Jones. Pradeep Mathew came on just before lunch and made Jones jump in the way of a darter. He then dispensed of Horne with a googly.The tourists went to lunch at 73-2 and we were informed that the ICC had officially bestowed test match status on this game. Invigorated by the buffet, the Kiwis came out guns blazing. Future rivals Crowe Jr and Rutherford, tthe wine and cheese man and the beer and pie man, hit our medium pacers out of the attack and within half an hour the score was 111 for 2.dddddddddddd Captain Mendis tossed the ball to Pradeep Mathew, whose figures stood at 2-47.What followed was the finest spell of spin bowling or any bowling, on this or any other planet, that I or anyone else could ever have seen.Rutherford taunted the young chinaman bowler by imitating his ungainly action as he tossed the ball back to mid-on. Pradeep, unperturbed, returned to his mark with intent on his face. He adjusted his headband. He rolled up his sleeves as if to commit a long premeditated act of violence. He stumbled in to bowl three perfect googlies which Crowe read and avoided. On the fourth ball, Crowe attempted a cut, only to find the ball reversing onto his stumps.With the new batsman, Mathew shifted to orthodox spin. The flight and drift were perfect, the ball curling just out of the batsmans reach. The trajectory was like a whip in mid-crack. By 1987, Mathew was not a stranger to Ari and me, though we were unaware he had weapons like the boru ball, responsible for Crowe Sr and Evan Grays demises.New Zealand 113 for 5. Rutherford knocked Gurusinha for a few boundaries at the other end, but made the fatal error of taking a single on the last ball. He faced Mathew who dished an unplayable finger spinner, followed by the undercutter, the ball backspinning and staying low. Rutherford kicked the pitch in annoyance and said something unprintable to the bowler.Mathew bowled him a chinaman and a googly, both of which he saw out.Then out of nowhere a medium-paced leaper rose off the pitch and smashed into Rutherfords hook nose. The batsman advanced down the pitch and had to be restrained.We watched in stunned silence as carrom flicks and darters were mixed in with stock deliveries. The variation was mesmerizing, the control exquisite. Hadlee, Bracewell, and Sneddon scattered like hacked limbs as Mathew raced to his eighth wicket. Palitha Epasekera mentioned the words world record and everyone in the press box became excited. Mathews 8-50 was well ahead of the then Sri Lankan record, Ravi Ratnayakes 8-83 vs Pakistan. This is an upset, said the Kiwi journalist with the beak.Just because youre upset doesnt make it an upset, grinned Ari, snapping his flashing camera at ten-minute intervals.The former Sri Lankan record holder himself stood at mid-on and shared a kind word with the bowler. The Sri Lankan field crowded the batsmen as Mathew sent down consecutive maidens. The shadows of the surrounding hills tickled the boundary line and the New Zealand team stood outside their dressing room in various degrees of agitation. Rutherford got a single. Smith fended off a looping chinaman. Then he bowled it.It pitched wide off leg, like a misplaced carrom ball, cut onto the off stump, then darted back into the stumps. The double bounce ball, crickets most magnificent creation. There was a loud boo from the New Zealand dressing room. Last man Chatfield swung at a top spinner, an edge flew by keeper Kuruppu, and they got a single.Rutherford patted the wicket with the bat and shouted to the dressing room. This pitch is f***ed! Mathew then bowled another double bounce ball, this time turning from off to leg to take the middle stump. Rutherford stormed off in disgust.New Zealand slumped from 111 for 2 to 117 all out. Mathews figures sat plainly on the scoreboard. 10-51. Two better than Jim Laker. There was jubilation in the press box as the players went in for tea. This wasnt like Kuruppus slow double hundred. This was a real world record.But all joy is fleeting. The New Zealanders refused to take the field after tea, calling the pitch a shocker. Intense discussions followed on the field between New Zealand tour management and the umpires. The Minister himself came down from the VIP stand to a standing ovation. The two captains were called and without pomp or ceremony the match was abandoned, as was the New Zealand tour.The Minister gave an impromptu press conference minus anyone who was actually on the field. The pitch has been deemed unsuitable…The three sessions of play were declared null and void. We were told that any paper publishing a match report would have its licence revoked. We looked on forlornly as history was erased. Cricket in Czechoslovakia indeed. It was the match that would never exist.Asgiriya would have to wait six more years to host another test match. Today there is no record of the record, even in Wisden. There is no record of a second test match taking place. But everyone who was there knows what they saw. And for once, Ari and I agree. Whatever the reason for New Zealands collapse, it had very little to do with the pitch.To buy the book in India, click here. For the UK edition, here ' ' '