Gerrit Cole was dominant again and the Yankees offense got to the Royals bullpen as they beat Kansas City, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon in the Bronx.

Takeaways

- Cole was on the mound and was pitching to a new backstop for the first time this season. With Jose Trevino out for the season, Ben Rortvedt was in the starting lineup to catch for the Yankees ace. It didn’t seem to matter for Cole who got the first six batters he faced out with three strikeouts. However, Nick Pratto would take a 2-2 pitch from Cole deep to the short porch to leadoff the third inning.

Cole was undeterred even when allowing runners on, none stranger than the leadoff bunt by Bobby Witt Jr. in the fourth. The bunt went down the left-field line and seemed to go foul but when DJ LeMahieu batted it foul, the umpire called it fair. Witt, trying to catch the Yankees sleeping, tried to advance to second but Cole threw him out.

The Yankee ace would struggle in the fifth. After allowing the first two batters on after a single and a walk, Cole would strike out the next two batters. He was a batter away from getting out of the inning, but Maikel Garcia’s single tied the game at 2-2. After being super efficient in the first three innings, Cole’s pitch count ballooned to 84 after five.

Cole would settle down, getting the next four batters out before Aaron Boone pulled him with one out in the seventh. Cole pitched 6.1 innings (99 pitches), giving up two runs on five hits and one walk. He also finished with 10 strikeouts.

Cole has now allowed two runs or fewer in 16 of his last 21 starts this season and now leads the majors.

-Anthony Rizzo’s struggles continued. In the first with men on first and second and no one out, the first baseman grounded into a double play on the first pitch. Giancarlo Stanton did pick up his teammate with a two-out single up the middle to score Billy McKinney who walked to leadoff the game.

Rizzo would strike out in his second at-bat, but in his third AB he came out of the dugout without batting gloves. The change seemingly worked as he singled to a massive applause from the Yankee Stadium crowd. In his final at-bat, Rizzo hit a grounder up the middle but a nice diving play by Witt Jr. stole a single and RBI from the first baseman. He finished 1-for-4.

-Anthony Volpe doubled to leadoff the third, his first extra-base hit since July 9 against the Cubs when he hit a home run. He would steal third and score on a Torres sac fly to put the Yanks up 2-1 at the time.

With the score tied in the sixth, the Yankees had men on first and third with one out. Stanton would strike out and Franchy Cordero flied out to center to end the threat.

-McKinney, the hero of Friday’s game, was tasked with leading off today’s game and got on base twice and scored a run. He finished 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base. McKinney started the game in center for the ailing Harrison Bader. While Boone expects Bader to return to the lineup on Sunday, the plus-defender came in to play center in the eighth inning, moving McKinney to left and Oswaldo Cabrera to right. Bader did get an at-bat in the eighth, picking up a single and stealing a base.

-Royals starter Brady Singer came into Saturday’s game with a 5.70 ERA and was rather dominant against this Yankees lineup. He went six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and one walk. He struck out nine batters and five consecutive hitters in one stretch.

However, the Yanks would get the better of the Royals bullpen. LeMahieu led off the seventh with a solo shot to put the Yanks up 3-2. It’s LeMahieu’s eighth home run of the season and his first since June 13 against the Mets. Stanton would put the game away with a two-out, two-run shot over the left-field wall to put the Yanks up 5-2.

-The Yankees bullpen of Wandy Peralta, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes combined to get the final eight outs of the game. Holmes would bring up the tying run to the plate after giving up a two-out single and a walk, but struck out Drew Waters to pick up his 13th save after a scoreless ninth inning, and has now not allowed a run in 27 of his 30 appearances this season.

Takeaways

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