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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — Frustration didn’t seep into the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Monday night. A bunch of wasted opportunities combined to squander the New York Yankees’ chance to push the Kansas City Royals one loss from playoff elimination, but frustration did not surface in a quiet room. There is no anger. Emotions are suppressed.
The favorite Yankees even showed good confidence after a 4-2 loss in Game 2, a result that moved the home field advantage to the Royals in the best-of-five American League Division Series tied at one game apiece to Missouri. Game 3 is on Wednesday.
“It still feels the same, that we’re going to win (the series),” Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “I don’t feel like anyone feels different. We’re going to go out and do our thing. We still don’t feel like a better team than us. They just got lucky.”
For three innings Monday, the Yankees played like a dominant club.
Carlos Rodon, feeding off many rowdy fronts, struck out the side in the first inning with 12 pitches and an electric fastball that touched 98 mph. Two innings later, Giancarlo Stanton muscled a one-hopper in the hole that Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
When Rodón cruised — he threw just 39 pitches over three innings — Royals starter Cole Ragans, who was dominant through six scoreless innings against the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Wild Card Series five days earlier, needed 70 pitches to get nine outs. Yankee Stadium was packed. A backbreaking hit seemed imminent. It never came.
The Yankees didn’t rally again until Chisholm led off the ninth inning with a home run to briefly reinvigorate the building. He took Game 1 despite a no-hitter with runners in scoring position, but couldn’t overcome the deficit in Game 2, leaving eight runners on base and going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. New York was 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position in the series.
“He made pitches when he needed them,” Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge said. “We got some guys in scoring position and they came down and made some tough pitches for us. But we had to get through those situations and get open.”
As in Game 1, Judge’s first at-bat in Game 2 came after Torres and Juan Soto reached base. And just like in Game 1, he struck out for the first of three consecutive outs to end the threat.
Hakim, the presumptive AL MVP who went 10-for-74 with 28 strikeouts in 18 postseason games since 2020, just missed a home run to right field in his second at-bat, walked in his third plate appearance and reached base on an infield. single in the eighth. He finished Tuesday 1-for-3 after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk in Game 1.
“You can’t count him out,” Soto said. “He’s the greatest hitter of all time right now. He’s just doing his thing. Struggled a little bit with his fastball today, but I know he’ll bounce back.”
The Royals had no trouble in that department during the fourth inning. Veteran catcher Salvador Perez ignited the outburst with a leadoff home run off Rodón for his first postseason homer in nine years.
“It still feels the same, that we will win (the draw). I don’t feel that anyone feels different. We will go out and do our thing still. Like any team that is better than us, we had a lot of missed opportunities tonight. , so he got lucky.
Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.
“Anytime Sal goes up, you’re always on the edge of your seat,” Witt said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen, so they just grow up, and players are like that.”
From there, the Royals used four singles and heady baserunning to tack on three more. Yuli Gurriel cracked a single and took second base on Rodón’s wild pitch. Two batters later, Tommy Pham laced a line drive to center field to score Gurriel from second base. Pham then swiped second and scored on Garrett Hampson’s single, which suddenly chased Rodón out of the game.
Each of his four run-scoring hits came on a slider. They left Yankee Stadium in silence when the “Come on, Royals” chant broke out during the Kansas City Chiefs’ win at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Yankees and Royals will meet across the parking lot from Arrowhead Wednesday for the first postseason game at Kauffman Stadium since Game 2 of the 2015 World Series.
The Royals will host with confidence knowing that Witt — the presumed AL MVP runner-up — is 0-for-10 in the series, a starting rotation that boasts going eight innings in two games and needing just one extra base. hit Tuesday to seize home-field advantage. The Yankees will take the field confident they are the better team that suffered a setback in Game 2, hoping for a rebound performance.
“I think that’s been the hallmark of our success,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Especially after some difficult times where we have won or lost something late or just a hard punch in the gut. This guy is really confident and understood, and we will be ready to go in Game 3.”
