Kansas City Royals drop home-series finale 6-4 as New York Yankees complete the sweep
The Kansas City Royals’ offense showed up early and held a modest lead by the middle innings, but it never quite seemed like a safe margin against a New Yankees lineup featuring big boppers capable of drastically altering games with a single swing.
In the end, however, it was a few of the small-ball-type plays the Royals typically champion — a swinging bunt and a runner going on contact from third base with less than two outs — that flipped the game in the Yankees’ favor.
The Royals lost the series finale 6-4 in front of an announced 19,704 at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday, swept for the second time in the past three series. They’ve also now lost eight of their last 10.
The Royals (7-13) held a 4-3 lead going into the seventh inning, but relief pitcher Dylan Coleman entered the game and loaded the bases without recording an out or giving up a hit.
Coleman sandwiched a hit batter between a pair of walks before Royals manager Mike Matheny called upon right-hander Scott Barlow out of the bullpen with the bases loaded, no outs and slugger Aaron Judge coming to the plate having already hit one home run in the game.
Aaron Judge’s check-swing roller towards first base — the slowest ball he’s put in play in his career (21.7 mph) — served as a well-placed bunt. He drove in the runner from third while the Royals recorded the out at first base.
The next batter, Josh Donaldson, hit a ground ball to shortstop with the infield playing in. However, the runner was off on contact and the score from Lopez to Perez wasn’t in time as the Yankees scored the go-ahead run.
“You can’t roll the ball out there on the first base line any better,” Matheny said. “Typically on a check swing like that, it comes back to the pitcher and you’ve got a 1-2-3 double play.
“Then the cue ball. They scored two runs (and the ball) never got past 80 feet. Nicky was in the right position, but the ball had spin on it because it was off the end of the bat and didn’t allow him to get his feet under him to throw him out at home. Barlow did everything he could.”
Judge added an insurance run with his second home run of the game in the ninth inning.
Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor went 2 for 4 with a home run, while Whit Merrifield (2 for 4) and Nicky Lopez (2 for 5) also had two-hit games. Carlos Santana had a double and an RBI. Andrew Benintendi also doubled and scored a run.
Taylor’s homer snapped the Royals’ five-game homerless streak, their longest drought within one season (47 innings) since August 13-18, 2019.
The Royals scratched rookie third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. from the starting lineup before the game because he’d suffered a wrist contusion the night before, and by the fifth inning they’d removed backup catcher Cam Gallagher with a left hamstring strain.
Gallagher started at catcher with Salvador Perez in the lineup as the designated hitter.
The Royals were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
“I think we all know our potential,” Taylor said. “We can score runs in a lot of different ways. Sometimes the bats are going to be hot, and sometimes we have to find ways to manufacture runs. Just going up there putting together quality at-bats puts us in a good situation to score runs. I think we’ve done that for the majority of the season, so we just keep our heads up and keep going.”
Lynch battled Yankees sluggers
Royals starting pitcher Daniel Lynch allowed three runs on four hits, one home run and one walk in five innings. He also struck out four.
Lynch only allowed one run in the first on a fastball that leaked over the middle of the plate to Judge and ended up 453 feet away to straight away center field for a solo homer. The Yankees made him throw 33 first-inning pitches to get through five batters.
Taylor’s second homer of the season, a solo blast to right-center tied the score in the third inning. The Royals had four hits against Yankees starter Luis Severino in that inning.
The Royals tacked on two more runs in the inning thanks to a bases-loaded wild pitch by Severino with Perez at the plate. Then Santana’s two-out RBI double down the first base line made the score 3-1.
Gallagher’s bunt in the fourth came after back-to-back singles by Kyle Isbel and Taylor. Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson fielded the bunt and threw to second base, but his throw sailed toward the outfield as Isbel scored to make it a 4-1 Royals advantage.
Lynch retired 12 in a row from the end of the first inning to the start of the fifth.
“I thought I did a pretty good job of bouncing back after the first inning,” Lynch said. “I didn’t feel like my stuff was very sharp there. They were just fouling a lot of balls off. I didn’t feel like I made too many bad pitches. The one to Judge just kind of leaked back over the plate.
“I felt like I made a lot of really good pitches to [DJ] LeMahieu and then to Donaldson. He battled me, but I felt like I made quality pitches. I was happy with how I battled. In the fifth inning, they just came around and got me.”
The Yankees scored two runs in the fifth against Lynch to make it a one-run game. Miguel Andujar singled on a ball lined up the middle that Lynch ducked to avoid.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa then swatted an RBI double into the left field corner with one out, and LeMahieu’s two-out RBI single cut the Royals’ deficit to 4-3 with Judge coming to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.
Lynch struck Judge out, swinging, on a changeup to end the inning and strand a runner on base. That also marked the end of Lynch’s outing.
“I kind of wish I’d let it hit me or knocked it down to at least get an out,” Lynch said of Andujar’s liner back up the middle. “... I would say I was more frustrated than anything, but definitely glad to finish five innings and not have to go to the bullpen.”
The score remained 4-3 until the seventh when Coleman ran into trouble.
The Royals (7-13) will play a makeup game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday in St. Louis before they resume their homestand Tuesday night against the Cardinals.
This story was originally published May 1, 2022 at 5:16 PM.
