Gerrit Cole pitched brilliantly, Giancarlo Stanton had another key RBI and Gleyber Torres drove in a run and scored another Thursday night as the Yankees beat the host Royals, 3-1, in Game 4 of the AL Division Series
The Bronx Bombers eliminated Kansas City, three games to one, to propel them to their first League Championship Series berth since getting swept by the Astros in 2022, their fourth ALCS in the last eight seasons and their 19th overall.
And they won’t have to play the Astros, who beat them each of the last three times.
Aaron Judge, who has struggled in the postseason, had a key double in the sixth inning and later scored. If he can get hot, that’s bad news for the Tigers or Guardians, who will play a Game 5 on Saturday to see which team advances to face the Yanks.
Here are the takeaways…
–Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless eighth – his fifth scoreless frame of the series – and Luke Weaver threw the ninth and notched his third save of the series. The Yanks bullpen was perhaps the team’s biggest star in the series as relievers allowed one unearned run over 15.2 innings of work, including 4.1 shutout innings by Weaver.
-The Yankees got on the scoreboard quickly after Torres hit the first pitch of the game on a line to center and scampered into second for a leadoff double. He had been 1-for-10 in the series with five walks before that hit. Two pitches later, Juan Soto singled through the hole between first and second and Torres scored.
-In the fifth, the Yanks expanded their lead to 2-0. This time, Torres knocked it in. With one out, Anthony Volpe singled past short and, after Alex Verdugo hit into a fielder’s choice, Jon Berti singled to right to put runners on first and third. The second baseman followed with a line single into right for his third RBI of the series. The hit chased Royals starter Michael Wacha and KC went to its closer, Lucas Erceg, to pitch to Soto, who flew out.
-In the bottom of the fifth, MJ Melendez of the Royals hit a deep drive to right that appeared to have a chance to leave the ballpark. But the wind must have kept it in and Soto caught it. The ball was clocked at 104.1 mph off the bat, per MLB’s Statcast, and would have been a home run in 26 of 30 ballparks, but not Kauffman Stadium, obviously.
-In the sixth, the Yanks added again, and this time Judge set up the inning. The slugger, who entered the at-bat just 1-for-11 in the series with four walks, drilled a 115.5 mph line drive into the left-center gap for a double off Erceg. Austin Wells moved Judge to third with a groundout to the right side and then Stanton blistered a single up the middle (116.9 mph) for his fourth RBI of the series, to make it 3-0.
They seemed primed for more when Volpe hit a liner toward first, but Yuli Gurriel snagged it and touched first to double off Jazz Chisholm Jr., who walked.
-Judge finished the series 2-for-13 (.154) with a double, two runs scored, five walks and five strikeouts. KC superstar Bobby Witt Jr. was 2-for-17 (.118) with one run, one walk and five strikeouts.
-The Royals finally scored off Cole in the bottom of the sixth, the game got a little chippy at the same time and Berti made another spiffy play as the first baseman. Maikel Garcia led off with a single and then Michael Massey hit a grounder to Berti, playing first for the second time in the series and just the second time in his career. Berti tagged first and threw to Volpe at second for a tag play. Volpe tagged Garcia, but the two collided, too.
Volpe seemed to be apologizing, patting Garcia. But players started to gather around second and Garcia and Chisholm appeared to be chirping at each other. Both benches and bullpens cleared, but there was no further incident. Torres seemed to be trying to walk Garcia away from the scrum.
When the inning resumed, Witt singled to right and then Vinnie Pasquantino, who was 0-for-14 in the series entering the at-bat, slammed an RBI double to left center, trimming the Yankee lead to 3-1.
-The Royals put a scare into everyone in pinstripes with two outs in the seventh and a runner on first. The Yanks held a two-run lead, but it nearly disappeared. No. 8 hitter Kyle Isbel launched a deep drive to right field that traveled 370 feet and would’ve been a homer in 24-of-30 MLB parks. But, again the wind must have come to Cole’s aid as Soto caught the ball just in front of the wall.
Highlights
Who was the MVP? Gerrit Cole
Cole was a dud in his Game 1 start when he allowed four runs (three earned) in just five innings. But he pitched like an ace Thursday in earning his 11th career postseason win, giving up six hits and one run over seven innings. He struck out four and walked none and his four-seam fastball was crisp, reaching 98.9 mph and averaging 96.8, nearly one mph better than his season average.
What’s next
The Yankees await the winner of Saturday’s Game 5 between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians.
The ALCS will begin in The Bronx on Monday night, first pitch is scheduled for 8:08 p.m.
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