bingo plus MLB: Alex Verdugo lifts Yankees over Royals in ALDS opener
New York Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo, left, center fielder Aaron Judge, center, and Juan Soto celebrate after beating the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the MLB American League division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and saved at least one run with a sliding catch along the left-field line, boosting the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Saturday night in their AL Division Series opener.
New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins. It was the first postseason game with five lead changes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Article continues after this advertisement“What a game!” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
FEATURED STORIES SPORTS PBA Finals: TNT carries extra weapons into duel vs Ginebra SPORTS 2024 PBA Finals schedule: Barangay Ginebra vs TNT Tropang Giga SPORTS Tim Cone, Ginebra locked in on getting back at TNT for PBA titleKansas City pitchers tied their season high with eight walks, forcing in a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Yankees were just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Verdugo lined a single off loser Michael Lorenzen.
READ: MLB: Yankees down Orioles to claim 21st division title
Article continues after this advertisementVerdugo’s hit scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled leading off and stole second on a play allowed to stand following a video review.
Article continues after this advertisement“I think we did have a really good argument that that should have been overturned,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.
Article continues after this advertisementBoone started a slumping Verdugo in left over rookie Jasson Domínguez in a decision influenced by defense.
“I feel like I’m pretty real with myself,” Verdugo said. “As in fans booing me, fans getting on me. I understand it. I was booing myself, too.”
Article continues after this advertisementVerdugo entered in a 3-for-25 skid at the plate.
“I just kind of let it spiral out of control a little bit,” Verdugo said. “For me, it was just really leaning on my guys in the clubhouse. They all got my back. They all know what kind of player I am and how I played throughout my whole career and just kept telling me, `Man, don’t let this season or this little glimpse make your whole year. You can make up for a lot of things in the playoffs.’”
READ: MLB: Yankees clinch playoff berth by beating Mariners
With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Michael Massey’s fourth-inning fly just inside the line to strand two runners. The ball hit the heel of Verdugo’s glove and bounced off his chest before he grabbed it with his bare hand.
“Thank goodness it popped over to the left hand, so it all worked out,” he said.
Chisholm, playing third base this year for the first time after the Yankees acquired him from Miami at the July trade deadline, made three fine defensive plays, two with the help of first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, starting because of Anthony Rizzo’s fractured fingers.
Four Yankees relievers combined to allow only an unearned run over four innings after ace Gerrit Cole came out, unhappy with his performance. Clay Holmes, dropped from his closer’s job last month, worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win. Luke Weaver got four straight outs for the save in his postseason debut.
New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo reacts after the Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the MLB American League baseball division series, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, and Royals standout Bobby Witt Jr. was 0 for 5, barking at plate umpire Adam Hamari after a called third strike in the ninth.
Juan Soto went 3 for 5 and threw out Salvador Perez in the second inning trying to score from second on Melendez’s single to right. Kansas City first baseman Yuli Gurriel threw out runners at the plate on grounders in the first and fifth.
After a day off between Games 1 and 2, the series between the AL-best Yankees and wild-card Royals resumes Monday night. These teams met in four playoffs from 1976-80, with the Yankees winning the first three and getting swept in the last.
Cole allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in five-plus innings. Royals starter Michael Wacha gave up three runs, four hits and three walks in four-plus innings.
Tommy Pham hit a second-inning sacrifice fly, and Torres put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the third with a 339-foot home run just over the right-field short porch.
Melendez’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead, but Royals pitchers issued four seven-pitch walks in the fifth, forcing in runs with walks by Angel Zerpa to Austin Wells and by John Schreiber to Anthony Volpe. The Yankees had not gotten a pair of bases-loaded walks in a postseason game since Bullet Joe Bush and Joe Dugan against the New York Giants’ Rosy Ryan in Game 6 of the 1923 World Series.
“They looked at a lot of pitches. We were close, but not good enough pitches to make them count,” Zerpa said through a translator.
Volpe’s throwing error at shortstop set up pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson’s two-run, sixth-inning single through a drawn-in infield that put the Royals ahead 5-4. Wells, in a 2-for-43 slide, tied the score in the bottom half with a two-out RBI single off Lorenzen.
UP NEXT
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
New York’s Carlos Rodón (16-9bingo plus, 3.96 ERA) starts Game 2 in the best-of-five series against the Royals’ Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14) in a matchup of left-handers.
READ NEXT MLB: Mets use another October rally to top Phillies in NLDS Ga... MLB: Shohei Ohtani shines in playoff debut for Dodgers EDITORS' PICK SG’s Changi goes passport-less; average 10 secs to clear immigration Inquirer calls for support for the victims of Tropical Storm Kristine Peza posts nearly P8 billion worth of investments in October Dominic Roque stranded in Sorsogon for days due to Kristine West PH Sea: Indonesia drives out China coast guard ship from disputed waters Canada to cut immigration numbers MOST READ West PH Sea: Indonesia drives out China coast guard ship from disputed waters LIVE UPDATES: Severe Tropical Storm Kristine LPA outside PAR may become tropical depression Friday – Pagasa Storm Kristine update: Signal No. 2 in Metro Manila, 23 Luzon areas View comments