By Rustin Dodd, Tyler Kepner, Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty
KANSAS CITY – It was a retro kind of night in Kansas City. Postseason baseball was back at Kauffman Stadium for the first time in nine years – but prime Giancarlo Stanton was back, too. And good vibes from the sold-out crowd could not stop a vintage performance from the majors’ active home run leader.
Stanton launched a Kris Bubic slider over the left field bullpen for a tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning, carrying the Yankees to a 3-2 victory over the Royals in Game 3 of their American League Division Series. The rest of the Yankees managed only one hit, but Stanton’s three helped his team take a two games-to-one lead in the best-of-five series, with ace Gerrit Cole starting Game 4 on Thursday against Michael Wacha.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt blanked the Royals through four innings, but left with two outs in the fifth after the Royals scored twice. Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle followed with four outs apiece, and while Luke Weaver gave up two singles in the eighth – including Bobby Witt Jr.’s first hit of the series – he survived the jam to work a five-out save.
A #POSTSEASON STANTONIAN BLAST 💪 pic.twitter.com/6ewPuZLdK1
— MLB (@MLB) October 10, 2024
Stanton has his signature moment
The Yankees needed at least one of their stars to come through in a pivotal Game 3. In the first two games of this series, it was mostly the Yankees’ supporting cast carrying them. That changed Wednesday night.
Stanton’s towering go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning was the Yankees’ first go-ahead postseason home run in the eighth inning or later since Raúl Ibañez in Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS.
Stanton drove in the Yankees’ first run with a fourth-inning double off the wall in left-center, and even stole second after a single in the sixth. It was his first stolen base since 2020 and perhaps a signal that Stanton – who has a .213 average and .744 OPS across the last three seasons – was feeling at the peak of his powers.
But Stanton’s night will most be remembered for his bat.
Hours before Game 3, he was the only Yankee on the field hitting batting practice off a pitching machine. Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus and hitting coach James Rowson were closely examining his swing. As Stanton walked out of the batting cage and headed toward the dugout, a smile stretched across his face. He knew he was locked in.
Bobby Witt Jr. still looking for big breakout
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. arrived at Kauffman Stadium in the early afternoon Wednesday. He spoke to reporters at 1 p.m. local time. He had spent the previous day, he said, trying to flush his 0-for-10 start to the series.
“If I go back to spring training and say I’m 0-for-10, but with the series 1-1 with the New York Yankees, I’d take that 100 times out of 100,” Witt said Wednesday afternoon.
Then came Game 3 on Wednesday night and the disappointment continued. Witt went hitless in his first two at-bats against Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, drew a walk against reliever Clay Holmes in the fifth — but did not score — and then singled in the bottom of the eighth off Luke Weaver.
It was his first hit of the series. He ended the inning standing on third base after Salvador Perez singled and Yuli Gurriel flied out to center field.
Witt, who led the majors with 211 hits in the regular season, is now 1-for-13 with a walk and no runs scored in this series. He will get at least one more opportunity as the Royals try to win Game 4 on Thursday and send the series back to New York.
Aaron Judge’s bat is missing
Before the game, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Aaron Judge was as “cool as a cucumber” and that the pressure to deliver in October was not getting to him.
Judge entered Wednesday’s game 2-for-23 in his last six postseason games. The Yankees captain ended Game 3 0-for-4 with a walk and left four runners on base. Judge came up short in the fifth inning when he flew out to center field with runners on the corners and Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo on the ropes. Two innings later, Judge struck out on a borderline check swing with Juan Soto on first base against Royals No. 4 starter Brady Singer, who was making his postseason debut in relief.
For the Yankees to win the World Series — and perhaps just advance past the Royals in the ALDS — Judge will need to hit like the superstar he is. So far, he’s 1-for-11 in this series. That’s not going to cut it for the Yankees.
Close calls trip up Yankees
The umpires didn’t favor the Yankees on several close calls, but the most crucial came when Gleyber Torres’ pop fly in the third inning was ruled foul.
With Oswaldo Cabrera (walk) on first base and two outs, Lugo was ahead of Torres, 0-1, when Torres lifted a lazy fly down the right field line. It fell halfway up the line and the right field umpire Ryan Blakney called it foul. But the Yankees challenged. There was some suspicion that the ball may have actually clipped a part of the foul line.
After a long review, officials decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call. Who knows if it was actually fair. The TV angles provided for the replays didn’t show anything conclusive. But if the ball was called fair, it’s likely that officials wouldn’t have overturned that, either. It was that close.
If the ball was fair, it would have put Cabrera on third base — he was running on the pitch — and Torres on first base with the dangerous Juan Soto at the plate. Instead, Torres flew out on the next pitch, and the threat was over.
Also, the Yankees could have made arguments that Anthony Volpe actually beat out a grounder earlier in the inning (they didn’t challenge), and that Judge did check his swing on a swinging strikeout to end the seventh inning with a runner on first.
Quatraro continues to lean on bench
Royals manager Matt Quatraro used his entire bench and mixed and matched lineups all season. The formula remains in place this postseason. One game after inserting third baseman Maikel Garcia into the leadoff spot against left-hander Carlos Rodón, Quatraro returned to his preferred lineup against right-handers — and then went a step forward, giving Adam Frazier his first start of the postseason in right field.
Frazier hit just .202 in 294 plate appearances in the regular season. But he spurred a fifth-inning, two-out rally with a dribbler to the left side of the infield that turned into a single against Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt.
The ball had an exit velocity of just 68 mph. But center fielder Kyle Isbel followed with a double down the left-field line and second baseman Michael Massey, who had returned to the leadoff spot, tied the game at 2-2 with a triple in the right-center gap, just past a diving Juan Soto.
“We’re built to use this whole roster,” Quatraro said. “It’s not nine stars and that’s it. We’re going to use everybody, and then you have to live that day by day.”
The lineup, however, produced just two runs. Outfielders Tommy Pham and Hunter Renfroe, who offer the prospect of more power, were on the bench, at least until Pham pinch-hit in the ninth inning. The difference in the game was Stanton’s home run.
(Top photo of Giancarlo Stanton: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
