Starting a crucial stretch, the New York Yankees mixed in plenty of defense and just enough offense for a critical win on Friday.
The Yankees look to pair both elements on Saturday afternoon and get their first series win in almost a month when they host the Kansas City Royals.
New York last won a series in late June, taking two of three at Oakland and highlighted by Domingo German’s perfect game. Since that series ended, the Yankees are 6-11.
Coming off a 1-5 road trip against the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels, the Yankees defeated the Royals 5-4. Billy McKinney hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth inning and made two stellar catches in center field, while rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe made a game-ending defensive play when he threw out Drew Waters at third on a grounder by Bobby Witt Jr.
Gleyber Torres also homered and is among the few Yankees hitting well lately. He is batting .383 (18-for-47) during an 11-game hitting streak and also has a hit in 16 of his past 18 games.
“I think we just had to play better baseball,” Volpe said. “I thought tonight we had really good at-bats and played better defense and cashed in some runs when we had guys on base. I think we just needed to play better, and it was obviously nice to get off the skid and get another win.”
Kansas City is 3-12 since getting consecutive home wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 1-2. The Royals finished with nine hits after getting blanked for the 12th time a day earlier.
Michael Massey homered twice, hitting a three-run shot in the fourth and a solo homer in the eighth, but the Royals went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Witt also went 0-for-5 and is hitless in his past 19 at-bats.
“We had some at-bats where we hit some balls hard,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “They made some nice plays. There were plenty of guys who swung the bats OK.”
New York’s Gerrit Cole (9-2, 2.78 ERA) will attempt to reach double-digit wins for the third straight season and ninth time overall. Cole has allowed three runs or fewer in eight straight starts, including Sunday’s no-decision in Colorado when he allowed one run on two hits to go along with a season-high 11 strikeouts in six innings.
Cole is 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA in seven career starts against Kansas City. He last faced them July 29, 2022, in New York and allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings of a no-decision.
Brady Singer (6-8, 5.70) will attempt to win consecutive starts for the first time since winning three straight outings Sept. 11-23.
Singer earned the win Sunday at home against Tampa Bay when he allowed four runs and seven hits in eight innings. Singer faced two above the minimum through seven innings before allowing four straight hits to start the eighth.
Singer is 0-1 with a 4.40 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees. He last faced them on July 28, 2022, and allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings before Aaron Judge hit a game-ending homer off Scott Barlow in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
