YANKEES/ROYALS SERIES TIED AT 1-1 HEADING INTO KC

The Yankees and Royals have split the ALDS series 1-1 as they head to Kansas City today for games 3 and 4 which will be played October 9th & 10th.

Here’s the recap of the first two games:

Saturday, October 5th, Gerrit Cole started game one of the ALDS against Michael Wacha. This game had 5 lead changes as the Yankees and Royals battled for the win. Cole pitched 5 innings, gave up 4 runs only 3 earned and struck out 4. Wacha pitched 4 innings, gave up 3 runs and struck out 3. The Royals took the lead first in the second inning. With the bases loaded Tommy Pham hit a RBI sacrifice fly. They almost had two runs but Salvador Perez was thrown out at home. The Yankees took the lead in the third inning with a 2 run home run by Gleyber Torres. But the Royals took the lead back in the fourth inning with a 2 run home run by MJ Melendez. The Yankees took the lead back in the fifth inning. Torres walked and Wacha was replaced by Angel Zerpa who gave up a single to Juan Soto and walked in a run and walked another to load the bases. John Schreiber came in and replaced Zerpa. Soto was thrown out at home trying to score on a hit by Jazz Chisholm Jr. but with the bases loaded again Anthony Volpe walked in another run. The lead went back to the Royals in the sixth inning when pinch hitter Garrett Hampson hit a 2 run single. The last lead change came in the seventh inning when Alex Verdugo hit a RBI single.  The Yankees won game 1 with a score of 6-5. Clay Holmes who pitched in the sixth inning earned the win and Luke Weaver got the save. All stars Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. were both hitless in this game.

Game 2 on Monday night was Carlos Rodon against Cole Ragans. Rodon pitched well to start but began to struggle in the fourth inning. He finished the night pitching 3 2/3 innings, gave up 4 runs but also struck out 7. It was Ragans who we all thought would get pulled first as his pitch count climbed quickly but he made it a little longer, pitching 4 innings, gave up 1 run, struck out 5 and walked 4. The Yankees took the lead in the third inning with a RBI single by Giancarlo Stanton. But the Royals tied it right away with a solo home run by Salvador Perez. This is when things got Rocky for Rodon. He then gave up a single, that runner scored on another single and then 2 more runs scored on 2 more singles. The Royals were now leading 4-1.   Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a solo home run in the ninth inning but it wasn’t enough. The Royals won 4-2. All stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Aaron Judge continued to struggle at the plate. Witt was 0-5 and Judge was 1-3.

Clarke Schmidt will start Wednesday night against Seth Lugo. I would have liked the Yankees to be up 2-0 going into Wednesday against Lugo who last time held the Yankees to 3 hits and struck out 10. Let’s hope Schmidt is on his game and can compete against Lugo.

There’s a good chance this series could go all 5 games. Game 5 would be back in the Bronx on Saturday.