KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning amid a battle of bullpens, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.
Stanton finished with three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who will turn to six-time All-Star pitcher Gerrit Cole on Thursday night with a chance to reach the American League Championship Series.
“We need to wrap it up tomorrow. No wiggle room,” Stanton said. “We’ve got to get it done.”
In a game dominated by pitching, the Royals used four relievers before starter-turned-bullpen ace Kris Bubic took over for the eighth. He struck out Austin Wells before Stanton hit a 3-1 pitch nearly 420 feet to left field to give New York the lead.
“He's done it throughout his career with us,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought that at-bat off Bubic was just phenomenal. I think he went up there looking to do damage, looking to do just that.”
The Royals tried to answer off Luke Weaver in the bottom of the eighth, getting Bobby Witt Jr.'s first hit of the series and a two-out single by franchise stalwart Salvador Perez. But the unflappable Weaver recovered to get Yuli Gurriel to fly out, then he took care of the ninth to earn the save and cap 4 1/3 scoreless innings by the New York bullpen.
Yankees relievers have not allowed an earned run in 13 2/3 innings this post-season.
“I think that's been one of our strengths, if not our main strength, the whole year,” Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt said.
Far less successful for New York continues to be Aaron Judge, the front-runner for AL MVP. The big slugger's post-season pratfalls continued with an 0-for-4 night, leaving Judge 1 for 11 with only an infield single in three games against the Royals.
He did have one of the Yankees' nine walks Wednesday night, giving them 22 for the series.
“You've got to tip your cap to them,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “They’re not chasing. They’re not expanding. But we also have to do a better job of limiting those for sure.”
It was the first playoff game at Kauffman Stadium in 3,268 days, since the Royals beat the Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series; they won their first title in 30 years a few days later in New York. The first baseman on that Royals team, Eric Hosmer, was on hand to deliver the first pitch for a crowd that included Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The Yankees had some good swings against Seth Lugo's dizzying array of nine pitches with nothing to show for it early on.
Juan Soto flew out to centre in the first on what would have been a homer in 17 ballparks. Judge followed with a liner that Witt snared at shortstop that had an exit velocity of 114 m.p.h. In the third, Gleyber Torres hit a ball to the warning track in right, moments after a review confirmed that his would-be RBI blooper down the line had landed foul.
The Yankees finally broke through in the fourth on Stanton's double — Soto scored from first, though he might well have been out had Witt delivered a better relay throw to the plate. And in the fifth, Soto added a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
The Royals answered with two in the fifth, sending a roar through the K. Kyle Isbel got them on the board with a two-out double to left, and Michael Massey ripped a sinking liner that somehow missed Soto's glove in right for an RBI triple.
That was the last of the scoring until Stanton's homer helped put New York on the brink of the ALCS.
“They bring in great arms out of the 'pen — they run outstanding starting pitchers out there — so it’s not easy,” Boone said. “I feel like even in the second game where we only scored two, we’ve given ourselves a lot of chances in the first few games with plate discipline. Hopefully we really break through in one of these.”
STARTING LINES
Schmidt was dinged for two runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings for the Yankees. Lugo lasted just five for Kansas City, allowing two hits and walking four against the team that led the league in free passes this season.
UP NEXT
Yankees: Cole (8-5, 3.41 ERA) heads back to the mound Thursday night. He allowed four runs — three earned — over five innings in the opener Saturday night but got no decision in the 6-5 win for New York.
Royals: RHP Michael Wacha (13-8, 3.35 ERA) will face Cole again after pitching just four innings Saturday. He allowed three runs but was long gone by the time the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the seventh.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Dave Skretta, The Associated Press