" Roux replied, briefly lightening the sombre mood. Pistorius

BALTIMORE -- Though concerned about the potential short-term loss of injured Baltimore Orioles teammate Chris Davis, Adam Jones couldnt help but marvel at the performance of Kansas City Royals rookie Yordano Ventura. Ventura scattered seven hits over eight innings and had a career-high eight strikeouts in leading the Royals to a 5-0 victory Friday night. "That kids special, to say the least," said Jones, who went 0 for 3 against the right-hander. "Hes got a 95-100 (mph fastball), and his changeup I think is the pitch that keeps people off his fastball. His curveball was filthy. I dont like to tip my cap, but the guys got some good stuff and he went out there and showed it tonight." Davis left in the fifth inning with a left oblique strain. The severity of the injury was not immediately known, but Davis looked to be in obvious discomfort as he walked toward the dugout following a third-inning flyout. "Well know more about it (Saturday)," Davis said. "Ive never had an oblique strain or whatever you want to call it, but it doesnt feel so bad right now that I cant move or anything like that. So I think right now well just take it one day at a time." Davis led the majors with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs last season. Although he has only two homers this year, Davis reached base in a career-high 20 straight games before going 0 for 2 in this one. He hopes to get back quickly and start another streak. "If we can get ahead of it right now and make it just a bump in the road as opposed to a big obstacle, Ill be better off," said Davis, who could not recall a specific play or swing that caused the injury. "Just discomfort the last few days," he said. The Orioles wont be the same if Davis must go to the 15-day disabled list. "CD is a big, big part of our lineup and part of our plan," Jones said. "Whatever it is, you just want him to take his time and not rush it because it could be longer." Ventura (2-1) walked two and hit a batter in his seventh major league start. The 22-year-old, who had never before gone longer than seven innings, stymied a club that totalled 21 runs in its previous two games. "I think thats as good as Ive seen him," manager Ned Yost said. "He had everything going tonight. I mean good fastball, his curveball -- that was probably the most consistent curveball hes had all year -- and a great changeup. He kept his pitch count down and really never got into much trouble. He just pitched a great game." Baltimore got only one runner past second base against the hard-throwing Ventura, a non-drafted free agent from the Dominican Republic. Royals pitcher Bruce Chen, serving as a translator for Ventura, said, "He felt like it went really well, but he wants to thank the team for supporting him, playing good defence and scoring a lot of runs. He thought we did a really good job of calling the game." Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth to finish off the Royals second shutout of the season. Kansas City is 11-0 when scoring at least four runs and 0-11 when scoring three runs or less. Ubaldo Jimenez (0-4) allowed four runs and six hits in six-plus innings. The right-hander has lost four of his five starts with the Orioles, who signed him to a $50 million, four-year contract in February. After the start of the game was delayed 55 minutes by rain, the Royals wasted no time in taking a 2-0 lead. Jimenez walked Omar Infante and gave up a single to Eric Hosmer before yielding RBI singles to Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. "In the first inning, I couldnt find the strike zone," Jimenez said. "After that, I was able to throw the fastball and breaking ball for strikes." Alcides Escobar reached third with no outs in Kansas City second, but was stranded. The Orioles got two singles in both the second and fourth innings before Ventura worked out of trouble. The Royals chased Jimenez during a two-run seventh. Escobar walked and Jarrod Dyson reached on a bunt before Nori Aoki delivered an RBI single past the drawn-in infield and Infante singled in a run on reliever T.J. McFarlands first pitch. Butler made it 5-0 in the ninth with a two-out RBI double. NOTES: Orioles 3B Manny Machado (knee) began his rehabilitation assignment with Class A Frederick. Because of a wet field, he served as DH instead of playing the field. He had two doubles and a triple in four at-bats. ... Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie will take the mound for the Royals on Saturday night in the second game of the series. Wei-Yin Chen will pitch for Baltimore. ... Hosmer singled and walked twice against Jimenez and is 9 for 23 (.391) lifetime against him. ... Nick Markakis had two hits for Baltimore, his team-high ninth multihit game. ... After the game, the Orioles optioned McFarland to Triple-A Norfolk. Gabriel Landeskog Jersey . 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The rise and fall of the double-amputee runner, who competed in the London Olympics in 2012 and then killed model Reeva Steenkamp less than a year after that inspirational triumph, is a consuming saga for South Africans that has drawn sheepish comparisons to reality television shows. The more people hear, the hungrier they are for more. Was Oscar on his stumps or wearing prosthetic limbs when he battered the toilet door with a cricket bat? Does he scream like a woman, as the defence suggests, or did neighbours indeed hear a womans screams on the night of the killing? Will apparent missteps by police investigators muddy the prosecutions case? Did Pistorius vomit during graphic testimony about Steenkamps wounds because of anguish, or was he trying to curry sympathy with the impassive judge? Some people turn up their noses at the spectacle, then dive into television or social media to soak up the latest, often extraordinary revelations. The parade of witnesses, some shown in the televised proceedings and some concealed from TV viewers to respect their privacy, gives a glimpse into rich, diverse, flawed and accomplished lives, swept into a single narrative from previously anonymous routines. Prof. Gert Saayman, the pathologist, described Steenkamps wounds and the general impact of gunshots on flesh and bone in metaphor-studded monologues so precise and structured that they were almost lyrical, the macabre contents notwithstanding. Here was a man, clinical and courtly, who had conducted between 10,000 and 15,000 autopsies over the decades. "Death is effectively a process rather than an event, and may take some minutes for it to come to its conclusion at a physiological level," he said. Saayman was followed by witness Darren Fresco, who dropped an expletive while recounting alleged gunplay involving Pistorius, his onetime friend, in the months before the runner shot his girlfriend. Fresco seemed miffed at the defences suggestion that he was wearing tracksuit ppants in the middle of summer, rather than shorts as he claims, during a 2012 incident in which a gun went off in a Johannesburg restaurant.dddddddddddd "If Its got Wheels or a Skirt its Gonna Cost You Money," reads the caption on Frescos Twitter feed. Fast-living image aside, he aptly summarized the intense media coverage, saying it seemed to be everywhere: "It doesnt matter where you look, where you turn, where you go, what you listen to, what you watch." Later came the police investigators, cast by defence lawyer Barry Roux as bumblers reminiscent of the "Keystone Cops" characters from the old silent movies. Col. Johannes Vermeulen squatted awkwardly as he sought to show that Pistorius was not wearing prostheses when he hit the toilet door with a cricket bat, based on the policemans analysis of marks in the wood. "Im not standing on my knees when Im washing the dishes," Vermeulen said to emphasize his point. "Maybe if youre scared of your wife, you can do that," Roux replied, briefly lightening the sombre mood. Pistorius said he hit the door with the bat after realizing he had shot Steenkamp by mistake, fearing she was an intruder. Prosecutors say he killed her after an argument. South Africans are increasingly captivated by Rouxs relentless cross-examination. A producer at the Highveld Stereo radio station recorded a parody rap song. Lyrics include: "I put it to you/that it is true/everything you say/I will misconstrue/Im Barry Roux/And I put it to you/Ten times in a row/Just to confuse you." The 2-week-old trial is expected to run into April. One commentator said it is even interfering with South African democracy ahead of elections on May 7. "The trial will peak at the same time as the election campaign swings into high gear, which means political parties will have to take extraordinary measures to hold the voters attention," Ranjeni Munusamy wrote in the Daily Maverick, an online news outlet. The role of Jaco van Vuuren, the court sketch artist, seems quaint alongside all the high-tech scrutin