Kansas City, Mo. — Gerrit Cole pitched like a postseason Thursday night, holding off the Kansas City Royals for one run over seven innings and sending the New York Yankees to a 3-1 victory that put them back in the American League championship game. Cont.
The six-time All-Star struck out six and struck out four, handing the ball to a New York bullpen that dominated a tense AL Division Series. Clay Holmes threw a perfect eighth inning, and Luke Weaver pitched a one-run ninth, extending a Yankees reliever’s scoreless streak to 15⅔ innings this postseason.
New York will play either Cleveland or Detroit in the ALCS starting Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
“Proud of these guys,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll play now and we’re excited about it.”
Juan Soto, Kleyber Torres and Game 3 star Giancarlo Stanton drove in runs for the Yankees, who clinched a berth in their fourth ALCS in eight years on the road. They won 50 games away from home during the regular season, their most in 21 years.
Michael Wacha allowed two runs, six hits and one walk in five innings for Kansas City. He didn’t get much help from a long streak that saw him score just five runs in the last three games of the series.
“In 2023, our season is over here, you know? We’re not in the postseason,” said Aaron Judge, who confirmed the finals to New York. “I remember a lot of these guys watching out on the field and, you know, we all came together and said, ‘This is not going to happen again.'”
Kansas City Sept. Winless at home after 8, losing nine in a row, including playoffs.
Still, it was a remarkable turnaround from a 106-loss laughing stock a year ago to its first postseason appearance since winning the 2015 World Series. With young stars like Bobby Witt Jr. signed to long-term deals, there is hope in Kansas City that this is a beginning rather than an end.
“I feel bad for the guys in the room,” Royals manager Matt Cuadraro said, “because, as you know, it’s seven, eight months of the year where they pour everything into it and give it every ounce of effort and energy. They have it.”
New York set the tone from the start, pouncing on Wacha as it did earlier in the series. Torres doubled off the senior right-hander’s first pitch of the game, and Soto followed with an RBI single on his third pitch of the night.
Anthony Volpe kept the pressure on with his single in the top of the fifth. Alex Verdugo grounded into a forceout and Jon Bertie put runners on the corners before Torres lined a two-out single to make it 2-0 and end Wacha’s night.
Meanwhile, Kohli seemed to be getting stronger as he clicked through the innings.
The reigning Cy Young Award winner retired his first six batters, working a leadoff single in the third and retiring eight more before Tommy Palm’s single in the fifth. Kohli immediately struck out Kyle Isbell on three pitches to end the inning.
Stanton hit the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning in Game 3 and extended the lead to 3-0 with his single in the sixth.
After Yankees third baseman Josh Chisholm Jr. called the Royals’ Game 2 win “luck” — and the tensions that simmered all night long — finally boiled over in the sixth. Volpe slapped a hard tag on Michael Garcia at second base to complete a double play, and the Royals third baseman snarled it. Players stormed out of both dugouts before order was restored.
It also nearly ignited Kansas City. Witt, who was 1-for-15 in the series, followed with a base hit and Vinny Pasquantino — who was 0-for-14 — had an RBI double. But with 39,012 packed into Kauffman Stadium, Kohli popped out Salvador Perez to second base to end the inning.
Cole’s night ended after he let Isbell fly to the warning track with a runner on to end the seventh, a deep shot to right field that would have been a game-tying homer had it been hit in that part of Yankee Stadium.
New York’s bullpen did the rest.
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