Ventura’s wild family life emerges after death

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 Jan. 22, dying in a car crash in the Dominican Republic on his way to see his estranged wife, María del Pilar Sangiovanni.

Sangiovanni appears to be at the center of it all: The reason his mother, Marisol, said she hadn’t spoken to her son 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.