Tonight at the Stadium in the Bronx, the New York Yankees met up with the Kansas City Royals for game one of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole led off against the Kansas City Royals’ Brady Singer. Showers near the game had passed, and the game started on time but with a slightly wet outfield. The Yankees lost the game in the eighth inning 6-5.
Whit Merrifield led off against Cole in the first and ground out to third base. Carlos Santana walked. Salvatore Perez singled, getting Santana at second. Ryan O’hearn lined out to left field to end the half. At the bottom, DJ LeMahieu grounded out to second. Judge lined to second. On his first at-bat returning from the IL, Luke Voit hit the first pitch he saw for a solo homer (423′) to left field. Stanton walked. Gio Urshela slow singled to short. A passed ball lets the runners advance. Gleyber Torres walked the bases full. Clint Frazier ground out to strand 3 Yankees. No score. Singer was checked for ‘sticky’ stuff when he left the mound.
At the top of the second inning, Jorge Soler led off against Cole and grounded to third for the first out. Kevin Gutierrez ground out to second. Hunter Dozier struck out on a 97 mph fastball to end the half. Kyle Higashioka led off the bottom by homering to left field for the two-run lead for the Yankees. Brett Gardner lined out to left. LeMahieu singled to center. Aaron Judge singled with LeMahieu stopping at second base. Luke Voit, who hit a homer in the first, flew out to right. Stanton, with two on and two outs, struck out, leaving another two men on base. New York Yankees 2 Kansas City Royals 0.
Michael Taylor led off the third inning by singling to short center. Nicky Lopez singled, moving Taylor to third base. Merrifield hitting in his 378th straight game, with men on the corners and no outs, ground out, but Taylor scored on the play. Santana struck out. Perez, with a man still on second and two outs, popped out to Gardner in second. Gerrit Cole was checked for substances as he left the mound. At the bottom Urshela ground out to short. Torres went down swinging. Frazier struck out for a fast inning for Singer. Yankees 2 Royals 1.
The top of the fourth was led off by O’Hearn, who tied up the game with a homer to centerfield. Soler ground out to LeMahieu. Gutierrez struck out. Dozier flew out to Garnder. The bottom was led off by Higashioka, who homered in the second; he struck out looking for Singers’ third strikeout in a row. Gardner struck out for Singers’ fourth in a row. LeMahieu walked. Aaron Judge walked, bringing up Luke Voit walked and that was the end of the night for Singer. Stanton faced the new pitcher Kris Bubic with the bases loaded and two outs; he ground out to strand three Yankees on base. Yankees 2 Royals 2.
Taylor started the fifth by lining out to LeMahieu. Lopez flew out to Frazier in left. Merrifield hit directly back to Cole for the final out. Urshela led off the bottom by flying out to Soler in right. Torres swung and missed for a strikeout. Frazier also struck out for a 1-2-3 inning for Bubic. Yankees 2 Royals 2.
The top of the sixth was led off by Stanton, who ground out to Torres. Perez struck out swinging. O’Hearn flew out to Frazier in left. Cole was checked by umpires for the second time, leaving the mound. The bottom was led off by Higashioka, who flew out to left. Gardner, who is in a big-time slump, ground out to first. LeMahieu rolled out to second to end the scoreless inning. The game tied at 2.
Soler led off the seventh inning and walked. Jerrod Dyson pinch-running. Gutierrez went down looking. Dozier ground out to Voit, Dyson went to second. Taylor reached on a bad call. Lopez struck out on a 100 mph fastball. In the bottom, Judge flew out. Luke Voit appeared to hit a home run to left, and upon a review, it was called a triple due to fan interference. Wade pinch ran for Voit. Stanton at the plate, the ball gets away from the catcher on a wild pitch, and Wade scored for the Yankees lead. Stanton walked. Urshela walked on a hit by a pitch to his shin. Torres, in a slump of late, continued the slump with a strikeout. Frazier, also in a big-time slump, chopped out to short. New York Yankees 3 Royals 2.
On to the eighth Merrifield against the new Yankee pitcher, Jonathan Loaisiga singled. Santana doubled, moving Merrifield to third. Perez struck out. O’Hearn singled on a mishandled ball by Lemahie, and Merrifield scored to tie up the game. Dyson singled as Santana came home for the Royals lead. Gutierrez struck out. Dozier singled in front of Garnder, and O’Hearn scored. Taylor singled up the center as Dyson scored. Lopez, against the new pitcher Lucas Luetge, ground out to second. Kansas City Royals 6 New York Yankees 3.
Gary Sanchez led off pinch-hitting for Higashioka the bottom of the eighth by grounding out. Gardner walked. LeMahieu homered driving in Gardner for the one-run game. Scott Barlow faced Aaron Judge, who doubled off the left-field wall. Odor pinch-hitting for Wade popped out to Santana for the second out. Stanton ground out to third, but the Yankees made it a one-run game. Royals 6 Yankees 5.
At the top of the ninth Luetge, still on the mound, Merrifield lined to Urshela for out number one. Santana struck out for out number two. Perez popped out to Luetge for the final out. With last licks for the New York Yankees, Gio Urshela led off the bottom of the ninth against Greg Holland and chopped out to center for a single. Miguel Andujar pinch ran for Urshela. Gleyber Torres struck out for the fourth time on the night, but Andujar moved to score position. Frazier struck out. Gary Sanchez was intentionally walked. Brett Gardner popped out to lose the game.
The final score was the Kansas City Royals 6 and the New York Yankees 5. The winning pitcher was Jake Brentz, and the loser was Jonathan Loaisiga; Greg Holland got the save.