The saga is sad and complex, and it offers a snapshot into the complicated life Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura lived before he tragically lost it on Jan. 22, dying in a car crash in the Dominican Republic on his way to see his estranged wife, María del Pilar Sangiovanni.
She appears to be at the center of it all: The reason his mother, Marisol, said they hadn’t spoken in nearly a year, a woman he married quickly after meeting on social media, who claimed he attempted to commit suicide, and whose father sent two men to scare her husband after they had been arguing. It’s all detailed in a comprehensive piece by the Kansas City Star.
Ventura and Sangiovanni wed in January 2016 — despite the fact she already was married. Sangiovanni claimed her previous marriage was to allow a foreign student to study in the Dominican Republic. It was a business arrangement, she said, and she had filed divorce papers she thought had gone through.
The wedding was in Ventura’s hometown of Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic, but his family didn’t attend. Many were suspicious of Sangiovanni, according to the story.
“To me, she’s at fault for everything. She was the one who distanced him from me and the rest of the family,” Marisol said. “She lied to him, told him things that weren’t true.
“After she came into his life, I never heard from him again.”
Sangiovanni said they separated last July, but Ventura had not mended the relationship with his mother.
“Had it been my fault, Yordano would have started talking to his family in July,” Sangiovanni said.
Ventura and Sangiovanni’s relationship started on Instagram in August 2015. It came on the heels of a Twitter argument between Ventura and Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista, whom Sangiovanni said she previously dated. Ventura and Sangiovanni met in person months later, when the Blue Jays faced the Royals in the ALCS.
Less than a week after the wedding, Sangiovanni said she suffered a miscarriage of Ventura’s twins.
On March 15, 2016, Sangiovanni called 911 to report a threat to her husband. She told police that two men came to the door looking for Ventura, according to a police report obtained by the Star. She also told police the two men advised her to leave because they planned to kill Ventura — and when they did leave, she said she heard gunshots. She told Ventura, who was convinced her father was trying to have him killed because of arguments he had with her. But her police report was never substantiated, and no shell casings were found outside of the house.
Sangiovanni said in the interview with the Kansas City Star she later found out her father sent the men to scare Ventura, which she told him.
Days after the incident, Ventura didn’t travel with the Royals on a trip to San Antonio. He didn’t appear in a spring training game until March 24. During that time, he was admitted to a hospital. Sangiovanni said Ventura had attempted suicide by ingesting at least 10 Benadryl pills and four doses of another medication. The Royals declined to comment on the matter, citing federal patient-privacy regulations.
Roughly a month later, Sangiovanni alleged there was another threat against her husband, this time in Kansas City. His Toyota 4Runner was vandalized, the car’s tires flattened, interior consoles ripped and a broken display monitor in the dash with the message “Volvemos Por Ti” scratched into the front passenger window. The translation: “We will be back for you.”
Ventura, however, didn’t pursue charges, and the case was closed two days later.
Several months later, he was trying to reconnect with Sangiovanni — indeed, talked to her on the phone several times in his final hours and was en route to meet her when he lost control of his vehicle on a winding road — but instead lost his life, a tragic ending to their tumultuous time together.
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