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In October, it’s only a matter of time before Giancarlo Stanton delivers.
After going just 1-for-8 in the first two games of the New York Yankees’ American League Division Series against the Kansas City Royals, the slugger did just that and led his team to a 3-2 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium.
His RBI double in the fourth inning opened the scoring, but it was his solo homer in the eighth that proved to be the difference.
New York now leads the series 2-1 and will have the opportunity to close things out in Thursday’s Game 4.
And it was Stanton—who even stole a base—drawing much of the social-media response with his team just one win away from the American League Championship Series:
While the teams split the first two contests, all the momentum was on the Royals’ side entering play after they won Game 2 on the road to seize home-field advantage. The pressure was also on the Yankees as the No. 1 seed in the American League with championship-or-bust expectations.
That made getting out to an ideal start all the more important, which the visitors did thanks to Stanton’s RBI double in the fourth. Throw in a sacrifice fly from Juan Soto in the fifth, and it seemed like the Yankees were on cruise control.
Yet Kansas City fought back with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the fifth thanks to an RBI double from Kyle Isbel and an RBI triple from Michael Massey. The two-out rally drove New York starter Clarke Schmidt from the game after just 4.2 innings and turned things into a bullpen game since Royals starter Seth Lugo pitched the first five.
All the Yankees’ bullpen needed was the one run, which came from Stanton’s blast in the eighth against Kris Bubic.
Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle each threw 1.1 scoreless innings to get the ball to closer Luke Weaver for a five-out save. It was a tall ask for Weaver, and he escaped a jam with runners on the corners in the eighth by inducing a fly out from Yuli Gurriel.
There would be no such worries in the ninth as Weaver closed the door and moved New York to within one win of the ALCS.
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