The Yankees got on the board early with a solo home run by Rizzo in the first inning. Quickly following that in the third, Judge hit his 40th home run of the season to score LeMahieu, who had walked. It was nice to see LeMahieu back on track after a disappointing season last year. By providing solid base skills, it allows Judge to do even more damage when he hits a mammoth hit. In the bottom of the third inning, the Yankees led the Royals by three. For the first four innings, Gerrit Cole walked the Kansas City Royals hitters. In the first at-bat, Aaron Judge hit a would-be home run to right field off the bat of MJ Melendez. It was a terrific catch and helped ensure the game didn’t get off to a bad start for Cole. The Royals hitters had some good contact, but no consistent contact through the first four innings. The wheels came off for Cole in the fifth inning. To an extent, it is not responsible for the results. The official scorers gave him five earned runs in the inning, but some of the blame lies with the Yankee defense. During that inning, he got two quick outs when trouble started brewing. Maikel Garcia got his first major league hit when IKF double caught a fly ball. Two more singles quickly followed to load the bases. Whitt Merrifield then hit a single to score two runs. At this point, the Yankees were still up three to two. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Salvador Perez returned from the injured list today. With runners on first and third base, he hit a towering home run to center. This was no cheap shop – He got all those 100 mph fastballs. Here’s where you can hang the inning on Cole – the defense left him out there longer than they should have, but the ace needed to close the door after the initial fumble and didn’t make it. On a positive note, Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless inning. Even better, it was a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Maybe there is some hope that he can finally start to settle into regular Chapman. The Yankees could certainly use the old version of him with the injuries they’ve dealt with. For much of the game, there was a real danger that the game would be delayed. They played much of the game in the pouring rain. Before the start of the eighth inning, after much fumbling with the dryers, the umpires finally removed the tarp. After a relatively brief rain delay, Albert Abreu pitched for the Yankees in the eighth. Since returning from the Rangers/Royals he has been riffing very well. That trend continued today when he managed to keep the game within striking distance in all but one run. In the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees started to threaten with a Rizzo dribbler and a Torres liner for singles. Josh Donaldson then hit a fly ball to Royals shortstop Michael Garcia, who couldn’t handle the ball. He got to Garcia’s mistake. With the bases loaded, Andrew Benintendi came to the plate and hit a ground ball to first base, but managed to pull Nick Pratto far enough to his right to reach. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was Benintendi’s first hit with the Yankees and it scored a run. With the bases still loaded, Aaron Hicks came to the plate and drew a walk to tie the game. The baton was passed to IKF, and he came up in the clutch with a single to give the Yankees the lead for the first time since the fifth inning, with the Yankees up by one. With the bases still loaded, Jose Trevino hit a dribbler that scored another run, but resulted in an out for him at first base. DJ LeMahieu was able to walk to load the bases again. Judge then stepped up to unload the bases with a big salami of epic proportions. With that home run, he sits at 41 home runs, tied for the most home runs by a Yankee before August — with two games remaining. Even better, that home run put the game at 11-5, with the Yankees ahead. After a few more singles, the inning ended with a Josh Donaldson popup. Wandy Peralta was brought in to pitch the ninth inning, and with some heartburn, managed to pitch a scoreless inning. For much of the night, I’d say everything was crap. However, a miraculous eighth inning managed to save my angry soul. In fact, I feel like my emotions have been through a roller coaster of highs and lows. I went from Aaron Judge’s high giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead to Cole’s low that gave up five pitches. Then another high as the Yankees retook the lead in the eighth. With this win officially in the book, I can say that this was one of the most emotionally draining games. All’s well that ends well. I don’t know about anyone else, but I need a nap. Frame Score.
