Kansas City’s bullpen breaks down, Yankees defeat Royals 10-4

The Kansas City Royals are playing a multilevel series against the New York Yankees: not only are the Royals trying to clinch a playoff spot, but Bobby Witt Jr. is vying for the American League MVP against Aaron Judge. It was not a great evening on either account: the Yankees notched a win against the Royals 10-4, and Judge went 2-4 with a walk while Witt only went 1-4.

The game started off very well. Brady Singer cruised for three innings while the Royals scored a run in the first and third innings, both off the bat of The Captain. The third inning hit was a home run, his 26th of the year.

Kansas City encountered the first rocky patch in the bottom of the fourth inning. Salvador Perez attempted to throw out a runner at third base but missed, allowing one run to score. On the very next plate appearance, Alex Verdugo homered to put the Yankees ahead 3-2.

Though the Royals would grab the lead again with runs scored in the fifth and sixth, including one on a home run by Hunter Renfroe, the bullpen would struggle. To be fair, only two out of the four bullpen arms struggled; Sam Long and Carlos Hernandez pitched two scoreless innings. But the other two...yikes. James McCarthur didn’t get a single out, allowing three hits, a walk, and this mammoth home run by Austin Wells, one of two on the night for the Yankees.

Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Chris Stratton allowed five baserunners, of which three scored. But even had the Yankees not scored any runs past their fifth, they would have closed the deal. Outside a 4-4 night from Salvy, the rest of the lineup accrued only three hits. It wasn’t all bad—watch this play, where Salvy pops up and Witt somehow scores from first base.

Additionally, the Minnesota Twins lost. Kansas City’s magic number, the number of games which they must win or their competitors must lose, for the third Wild Card slot is 13. With 17 games left, they can get nearly all of those by themselves. It starts tomorrow with another crack at the Yankees.