Yankees 6, Royals 5: The Alex Verdugo Redemption Game

If Saturday night's Yankees/Royals game is any indication of how topsy-turvy this Divisino Series and the rest of the playoffs will go, we are in for a wild ride. The first game in postseason history with five lead changes, this contest truly had it all, from wall-scraping home runs and highlight-reel defensive plays to stranded runners and blunders on both the bases and in the field.

Of course, a game ruled by that much chaos just had to be decided by an Alex Verdugo go-ahead single in the seventh, the beleaguered left fielder repaying the trust the team placed in him to start this game. It was a far more heart-pounding start to the Yankees ' postseason odyssey than any of us expected, but the team marked the return of October baseball to the Bronx with a series-opening win, 6-5.

With their ace on the mound facing the second-worst offense of any playoff team, this should have been a relatively straightforward postseason opener for the Yankees. It was anything but. Although Gerrit Cole finished his regular season allowing one run in his final two starts totaling 15.2 innings and the Royals had scored just 3 runs in 18 innings in their Wild Card Series sweep of the Orioles, it was the visiting team who held the upper hand over the 2023 AL Cy Young winner.

Cole worked a one-two-three first inning on just seven pitches, but all three outs were a tad loud for comfort coming right out of the gate. Michael Massey, Bobby Witt Jr., and Vinnie Pasquantino all flew out to roughly the warning track on balls hit 103, 108, and 105 mph, with the Witt fly ball requiring an all-out sprinting catch in the left-center gap by Aaron Judge to rob his nearest challenger in the AL MVP race of a sure triple.

Gleyber Torres led off the bottom-half drawing a full count walk and advanced to third on an inside-out bloop double to left by Juan Soto and just like that the Yankees had two runners in scoring position with no outs and Judge stepping to the plate. However, the 3-4-5 hitters let Wacha off the hook, starting with a Judge strikeout out on a 3-2 changeup. Austin Wells then bounced a weak grounder to the right side, but apparently the Yankees have not learned their lesson from all the times they've gotten burned on the contact play, because Torres was thrown out at the plate by the better part of ten feet. Giancarlo Stanton struck out and the scoring opportunity evaporated with nothing to show.

The Yankees failure to cash in stood in sharp contrast to events in the top of the second. Salvador Perez led off with a 104 mph single as the hard contact against Cole continued followed by a Yuli Gurriel walk. MJ Melendez laced a first-pitch slider for a single to right, but Soto came up with the perfect charge and throw to gun down Perez at the plate and keep the game scoreless. Unfortunately, a Tommy Pham fly ball to center and an off-line throw by Judge to the plate allowed the Royals to open the scoring, though Cole would escape further damage with his first strikeout of the night.

The expectant crowd would have to wait until the third for the Yankees offense to make their first real noise of the postseason. Alex Verdugo, starting in left over Jasson Domínguez for the defensive stability he offers relative to the top prospect, led off with a single to set up a two-run home run by Torres on a line drive to the opposite field, something he did with consistency during his hot streak to end the regular season.

If there was any doubt that Cole's command was off this game, the fourth inning confirmed it. He walked Gurriel for the second time and that free pass immediately bit him, MJ Melendez jumping on an 0-1 fastball and yanking it just over the wall in right to restore the Royals' one-run lead. Thus, Gurriel scored both times that Cole issued a free pass. Both home runs by Torres and Melendez would've only left the park in Yankee Stadium as the short porch giveth, and the short porch taketh away.

Singles by Pham and Maikel Garcia put another pair on with two outs, and only a sliding, bobbling catch by Verdugo in short left on a Massey blooper prevented more runs from scoring.

The offense would waste another golden scoring opportunity in the bottom of the inning. Stanton led off with a walk, and after two quick outs, Oswaldo Cabrera stepped to the plate looking to extend the inning. He did just that, lacing a double to right that bounced away from Kyle Isbel's diving catch attempt. However, even with a running lead, the lead-footed Stanton was only just jogging into third by the time the ball made it back into the infield whereas any other baserunner in the league would have scored easily. The inability to hustle immediately haunted them, Verdugo popping out foul as the Yankees failed to score runners from second and third for the second time in four innings.

Fortunately, they would find a little more joy the next inning. Wacha surrendered a leadoff walk to Torres, prompting manager Matt Quatraro to pull him from the game at just 70 pitches. The hard-throwing Angel Zerpa was the first arm out of the bullpen and immediately the Yankees started finding more success. He surrendered a single to Soto and walked Judge to load the bases for Wells, who himself worked a full-count walk to plate the tying run, 3-3. The Bombers still had the bases loaded with no outs, but a Stanton pop out and Jazz Chisholm Jr. force out threatened to waste another opportunity. However, Anthony Volpe worked a full-count walk off new reliever John Schreiber to give the Yankees their second lead of the game, though a Cabrera inning-ending strikeout stranded all three ducks on the pond, the failure to cash in further looming large in the sixth.

Cole would surrender a leadoff single to Gurriel and his night was finished. Aaron Boone called on lefty specialist Tim Hill as the first man on in relief with two lefties and a righty due up. He got Melendez to line out and then got just the double play ball needed to end the inning off Pham's bat, but Volpe sailed the throw into right field allowing the runners to advance to second and third. Free outs tend to turn into runs and that's exactly how this played out, pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson drilling a single through the pulled-in infield to give the Royals their third lead of the contest, 5-4.

That closed the book on Cole's outing after five-plus innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts on 80 total pitches. The two walks issued to Gurriel were killers, and far too many pitches were thrown over the heart of the plate to the bottom-half of the Royals lineup, turning into hits what should have been manageable batters to retire. He will need to be miles sharper with his command if the Yankees want to advance deep into this postseason.

Clay Holmes has been much maligned for a large chunk of the season, losing the closer roll after giving up a franchise-record 13th blown save, but his contributions tonight were indispensable, the sinkerballer recording five huge scoreless outs between the sixth and seventh to give his offense a chance to retake the lead. That's exactly what they did, starting with a bottom of the sixth that saw Verdugo draw a leadoff walk and Soto advance him to second with his third hit of the day as the superstar right fielder did everything he could on both sides of the ball to drag his team to the finish line. That forced Quatraro to go to Michael Lorenzen, and though a Judge strikeout put them an out away from another squandered chance, Wells broke an 0-for-31 slump by lining a single to right to plate Verdugo as the tying run. Stanton then hit a grounder that forced a diving stop by Garcia at third, but the throw still beat him to first by a step, meaning Stanton's absence of speed ended up costing the Yankees two runs in this game.

Then in the seventh, Chisholm led off with a single, his 40 stolen bases in the regular season evidence of the threat he poses on the base paths. He got a late break for second as Volpe struck out on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt, but was signaled safe on the play. The Royals challenged and the replay appeared to show daylight between Chisholm's cleat and the second base bag when the tag was applied, but the Yankees caught a massive break as the call on the field was upheld. As I said before, free outs tend to lead to runs, and Verdugo — who was far from a guarantee to start this game given the offensive upside Jasson Domínguez offers — came through with the biggest hit of his Yankees career, lacing a single to the opposite field to plate Chisholm and give the Yankees the lead, 6-5.

Tommy Kahnle recorded the first two outs of the eighth inning before walking Hampson, causing Boone to call on Luke Weaver for the four-out save. He struck out Garcia to end the eighth , and after the Yankees failed to score in the bottom-half, it was left to their new closer to nail down the win against the top of the Royals order. Weaver did so in dominant fashion, striking out Massey and Witt before getting Pasquantino to bounce into the game-ending grounder.

The series takes a day off tomorrow before resuming Monday night. That will be a battle of the hard-throwing southpaws, Carlos Rodón facing off against Cole Ragans. First pitch is scheduled for 7:38pm EDT with the broadcast on TBS and TruTV.