MLB

Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees

· ALDS - Game 2
Kansas City Royals
86-76, 41-40 Away
Final
4 - 2
New York Yankees
94-68, 44-37 Home

Perez's homer off Rodón sparks 4-run 4th inning and Royals beat Yankees 4-2 in Game 2 to tie ALDS

Four relievers held New York in check after an inconsistent Cole Ragans lasted four innings. Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia singled in runs for the Royals.

Garcia, moved up from ninth to first in Kansas City's batting order, had four hits.

Game 3 in the best-of-five playoff is Wednesday night at Kansas City, the Royals’ first postseason home game since the 2015 World Series.

“It’s basically like a brand-new series when we get to the K,” Ragans said, referring to Kauffman Stadium.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 1 for 3 with an infield single and is 1 for 7 with four strikeouts in the series. Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr., expected to finish second to Judge in AL MVP voting, was 0 for 5 with three strikeouts, dropping to 0 for 10 in the series.

All four Division Series opened 1-1 for the first time since the round started in 1995.

Giancarlo Stanton put the Yankees ahead with an RBI single in the third, but New York went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and is 3 for 19 in the two games.

“They were making their pitches when they needed to,” Judge said. “We've got to come through in those situations to kind of break it open.”

Ragans allowed just the one run and three hits, striking out five and walking four. Winning pitcher Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber each followed with a hitless inning before Kris Bubic threw two scoreless innings. Lucas Erceg worked the ninth for his third save this postseason.

Erceg gave up a leadoff homer to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a two-out single to Jon Berti but retired Gleyber Torres on a grounder to end it with slugger Juan Soto on deck. Chisholm's homer was the first off Erceg since June 12, when he was still pitching for Oakland.

Perez, at 34 the only remaining Royals player from their 2015 championship team, tied the score when he drove a 2-0 slider into the left-field seats. The nine-time All-Star entered 12 for 26 (.462) with three homers off Rodón, an old AL Central rival when he pitched for the Chicago White Sox.

“He falls behind him, and from there started making some mistakes with his secondary (pitches) just in the heart of the plate," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Yuli Gurriel singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Pham’s one-out single for a 2-1 lead, prompting cheers from NFL fans at the Kansas City Chiefs' home game against New Orleans at Arrowhead Stadium. Pham stole second and scored on a two-out single by Hampson.

Garcia greeted Ian Hamilton with an RBI single that put the Royals ahead 4-1.

Rodón, lined up to pitch a potential Game 5, gave up four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Twenty-four of the 32 home runs he has allowed this season have been solo shots.

“Obviously, I want to be better than that — especially how the first three innings went,” Rodón said. “I wouldn’t say I tired out. Just got to be better with those pitches, just more fine with them and get to better spots.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (left flexor strain) took a step forward when he played catch Sunday, Boone said.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) makes his first postseason start Wednesday. He was 0-2 with an 11.75 ERA in three relief appearances during the 2022 playoffs.

Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00) is scheduled to start for the Royals. He struck out 10 over seven innings of three-hit ball in a 5-0 win at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 10.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees?
  • TV Channel: Royals at Yankees 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on TBS.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Yankees: 54.0%
Royals: 46.0%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Torres grounded out to shortstop.
9th Inning Berti singled to right.
9th Inning Verdugo grounded out to third.
9th Inning Volpe grounded out to shortstop.
9th Inning Chisholm Jr. homered to right (375 feet).
9th Inning Erceg relieved Bubic

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/kc.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originKC https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/nyy.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNYY
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 0
7 Ground Balls 12
15 Strikeouts 8
4 Runs Batted In 2
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
11 Hits 7
2 Stolen Bases 1
2 Walks 5
0 Catcher Interference 0
4 Runs 2
0 Ground Into Double Play 2
0 Sacrifice Flies 0
36 At Bats 32
1 Home Runs 1
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
15 Runners Left On Base 22
0 Triples 0
1 Game Winning RBIs 0
0 Intentional Walks 0
0 Doubles 0
14 Fly Balls 12
1 Caught Stealing 0
153 Pitches 158
0 Games Started 0
2 Pinch At Bats 0
1 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 1
14 Total Bases 10
38 Plate Appearances 37
162.0 Projected Home Runs 162.0
1 Extra Base Hits 1
4.8 Runs Created 3.1
.306 Batting Average .219
.500 Pinch Hit Average .000
.389 Slugging Percentage .313
.167 Secondary Average .281
.342 On Base Percentage .324
.731 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .637
0.5 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 1.0
5.0 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 3.1
32.0 Batter Rating 19.0
36.0 At Bats Per Home Run 32.0
0.67 Stolen Base Percentage 1.00
4.03 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 4.27
.083 Isolated Power .094
0.13 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.63
.053 Walks Per Plate Appearance .135
-.139 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average .063
8.0 Runs Produced 4.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.4 Patience Ratio 0.4
0.5 Balls In Play Average 0.3
82.8 MLB Rating 73.3
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Yankee Stadium

Location: Bronx, New York
Attendance: 48,034 | Capacity:

2024 American League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Cleveland 92 69 .571 - L2
Kansas City 86 76 .531 6.5 W1
Detroit 86 76 .531 6.5 L2
Minnesota 82 80 .506 10.5 L4
Chicago 41 121 .253 51.5 W2

2024 American League East Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
New York 94 68 .580 - W1
Baltimore 91 71 .562 3 W3
Boston 81 81 .500 13 W1
Tampa Bay 80 82 .494 14 L1
Toronto 74 88 .457 20 L3
Full Standings