The Yankees started out slow but scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-4.
– NY had struggled with taking advantage of runners in scoring position for most of the night, going 0-for-5 through the first six innings. Aaron Judge came through in the bottom of the seventh with a game-tying RBI single, and Austin Wells put the Yanks ahead 7-4 with a three-run blast off James McArthur.
Gleyber Torres tacked on another in the eighth with a single to center, his third hit of the night, and then Wells doubled off the wall in left field to make it a 10-4 game.
– The Yanks looked sloppy to open the game as throwing errors by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Wells allowed leadoff man Tommy Pham to reach first and advance to third after a stolen base. Salvador Perez singled to center to make it 1-0 before Carlos Rodon eventually settled down to get the final two outs of the inning. The left-handed needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning.
Perez got the best of Rodon again in the top of the third, crushing a solo homer to center to put the Royals up 2-0.
– Perez came up to bat again in the top of the fifth with two outs and popped up to shallow right field, but Torres and Juan Soto miscommunicated and let the ball drop, allowing Bobby Whit Jr. to score from first and tie the game at 3-3. Rodon’s inconsistencies continued in the sixth, letting up a leadoff homer to Hunter Renfroe that gave KC a 4-3 lead.
Rodon’s final line: four runs (three earned) on six hits with one walk and nine strikeouts over 6.0 IP.
– New York called up star prospect Jasson Dominguez prior to the game and made it clear that he’s “here to play just about every day.” Batting sixth, the 21-year-old grounded out to first in his first at-bat of the night in the bottom of the second inning.
The Martian recorded his first hit of the season in the bottom of the fourth inning with an opposite-field grounder through the hole. Batting right-handed against the lefty Sam Long, he struck out looking on a 2-2 curveball in the bottom of the sixth. He flied out to short in the seventh and finished the game 1-for-4 with a run scored.
– After Dominguez’s single in the fourth, Oswaldo Cabrera walked and Alex Verdugo hit a three-run homer to put the Yanks up 3-2. It was Verdugo’s 12th homer of the year, but only his fourth since May 30.
– The Yankees bullpen did their job Monday night. Jake Cousins tossed a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts and a walk. Luke Weaver allowed one hit and struck out two Royals in the eighth. Ian Hamilton closed things out with a 1-2-3 ninth, including one strikeout.
After a first-inning throwing error that led to a run, Wells went 2-for-5 at the plate with a three-run homer to energize the Yankees’ lineup and later added an RBI double.
The Yankees and Royals continue their three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
Marcus Stroman (10-7, 4.03 ERA) goes up against Seth Lugo (15-8, 3.05 ERA) for KC.
