After the New York Yankees accomplished an eleventh inning win over the Kansas City Royals this morning in the wee hours, the Yankees went for the series win tonight at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Last night’s game was a hard-fought 11th inning win, and hoped for an earlier outcome with Nestor Cortes Jr. on the mound for the Yankees; he faced the Royals, Daniel Lynch. The Yankees lost the game 8-4 in a game that the Yankees had a season-high four errors.
DJ LeMahieu led off for the Yankees against Lynch and ground out. Giancarlo Stanton walked. Aaron Judge struck out swinging on a high ball. Joey Gallo went down, looking to end the half. At the bottom, Whit Merrifield led off for the Royals and got a centerfield single. Nicky Lopez flew out to Stanton in left. Salvator Perez homered to center to give the Royals an early two-run lead. Carlos Santana ground out to second. Andrew Benintendi doubled to left field. Emmanuel Rivera struck out looking, but the Royals went ahead by two runs. Kansas City 2 Yankees 0.
Luke Voit led off for the Yankees in the second and ground out to third. Rougie Odor struck out. Kyle Higashioka struck out swinging for a 1-2-3 inning for Lynch. At the bottom, Hunter Dozier skied out to Judge in right. Michael Taylor singled to right. Hanser Alberto flew out to center. Taylor stole second and went to third on an errant throw by Higashioka. With one on and two outs, Merrifield flew out to Davis in center to end the inning. Royals 2 Yankees 0.
Centerfielder Jonathan Davis led off the third inning by tapping back to the pitcher. A. Velaquez hit one to the centerfield wall for a double. LeMahieu flew out to center while Velaquez took third. Stanton with a chance to tie it up with one on and two outs, but Velaquez took advantage of the passed ball and scored. Stanton singled to left. Judge singled to right center, moving Stanton to second. With two on and two outs, Gallo struck out swinging, but the Yankees got on the board. At the bottom, Lopez flew out to Gallo in left. Perez flew out to Judge in right. Santana flew out to center for a 1-2-3 inning for Cortes. Royals 2 Yankees 1.
Luke Voit led off the fourth by flying out to center. Odor walked. Higashioka homered to far left (408′) for a two-run shot powering the Yankees to the lead in the game. Davis ground out. Velaquez went out swinging. At the bottom, Benintendi flew out to left. Rivera ground out. Dozier struck out looking. New York Yankees 3 Royals 2.
The top of the Yankees lineup led off the fifth inning. LeMahieu walked. Stanton flew out to right. Judge flew out to left-center. LeMahieu went to second on a passed ball. Gallo walked for two on and two outs, and that was the night for Daniel Lynch. Luke Voit faced a new pitcher Domingo Tapia and walked to load the bases for Odor, who struck out swinging, blowing a chance for the Yankees to blow the game open, leaving three on base. At the bottom, Taylor flew out to Judge in right. Alberto lined out to Davis in center. Merrifield got a two-out double to right-center that split the outfielders. Merrifield took off for third, and Higashioka airmailed one to third, scoring Merrifield for a tied game. Lopez struck out, but the game was tied. Yankees 3 Royals 3.
Kyle Higashioka led off the sixth by striking out. Davis walked. Davis took second on a wild pitch. Velaquez went down looking. LeMahieu, with one on and two outs, lined a single to right, scoring Velaquez ending the night for Tapia. Stanton faced new Royals pitcher Josh Staumont and struck out swinging. At the bottom of the seventh, Perez got his second homer of the game. Santana went down swinging. Benintendi struck out looking. Rivera lined a single to center that ended the night for Nestor Cortes Jr. Dozier faced Stephen Ridings and doubled to left, giving the Royals the lead, but Dozier was out at third. Kansas City 5 New York 4.
Judge led off the seventh inning went down looking. Gallo struck out. Voit lined out to center. At the bottom, Taylor doubled. Alberto had a sac bunt, and a throwing error by Ridings allowed Taylor to score. Merrifield lined out, but Alberto went to third, and that was the night for Ridings. Lopez faced new Yankees pitcher Joely Rodriguez, and the Royals scored on a safety squeeze. Perez singled to left. Santana ground out to short. Kansas City 7 New York 4.
Rougie Odor led off the eighth with the Yankees behind by 3 runs and went down looking. Higashioka flew out to right. Davis flew out to right for a quick inning for the Royals. At the bottom, Benintendi reached on the fourth error on the Yankees as the ball slipped through the feet of Voit. Rivera walked. Dozier flew out to right, Benintendi moved to third. Taylor walked to load the bases for Alberto had a sac fly scoring Benintendi. Merrifield line out but the Royals tacked on. Royals 8 Yankees 4.
At the top of the ninth inning, with the last licks on the line for the Yankees, Andrew Velaquez led off and flew out to left. LeMahieu flew out to right. Stanton went down swinging for the Royals win. The final score was the Kansas City Royals 8 and the New York Yankees 4. The winning pitcher was Josh Staumont, and the loser was Nestor Cortes Jr.