It was a hit parade in Kansas City, as the Yankees won the rubber match against the Royals on Wednesday afternoon, 5-2.
Takeaways from the game
1) Four Yankees found themselves with a multi-hit game and 12 hits total were recorded, as the pinstripes had their way with the Royals pitchers.
Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu, Tyler Wade and Rougned Odor were those Yanks recording two hits in the ballgame. And of those 12 hits, no homers, so they were getting it done fundamentally.
2) Speaking of fundamentals, the Yanks have been running rampant on the basepaths and it's been generating runs. On Tuesday night, it was Andrew Velazquez making heads up plays that led to a run. Today, Wade was the one stealing third after hitting a double followed by LeMahieu not doing too much and poking a single out to center to score him. I'm a sucker for that kind of baseball and the Yankees had it on full display.
3) It was a full on bullpen game for the Yanks, and Lucas Luetge made the first start of his career, allowing one run on two hits over two innings. After Albert Abreu allowed a run in the bottom of the fifth, the Yanks bullpen locked in and shut KC down. Chad Green was especially impressive with just one hit and three strikeouts on his line.
4) Collecting RBIs in this one were LeMahieu, Judge, and Odor. But Luke Voit was the one that got the scoring going in the first with a two-run single to right field.
5) The Yankees weren't too clean in the field, though. After four on Tuesday, they had three errors in this one, including a brutal Odor mistake that should've been a game-ending double play in the ninth inning. His flip to Velazquez at second was way too early as he wasn't looking at the shortstop.
5) New York will watch the Red Sox tonight, as they're sitting two games behind them for the second Wild Card berth at the moment.