KANSAS CITY — As lethal as the Yankees bats can be when they’re piling up runs with Aaron Judge on a power surge, and that’s been who there are again of late, they didn’t think they’d be teeing off in the early innings of Wednesday night’s game at Kauffman Stadium.
Not with the Royals starting their version of Max Fried.
Kris Bubic sported a 1.43 ERA that was the best in the majors. He allowed 12 earned runs in 12 starts.
“He’s having about as good a year as anyone in the league, and that’s saying something,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll have our work cut out for us with a really hot pitcher.”
Nope.
The Yankees batted around lighting up Bubic for five in the second and were cruising to another stress-free win over the Royals until things became a little hairy in the ninth inning.
After a lot of great Yankees pitching, especially from starter Clarke Schmidt, plus two sensational catches and a great throw from center fielder Trent Grisham, and, ho hum, another Aaron Judge homer, the Royals scored three ninth-inning runs with reliever Mark Leiter Jr., having a bad night pitching and fielding.
But before this turned into a loss, Devin Williams was summoned in with one on and on out, and recorded two straight outs.
The Yankees prevailed 6-3.
Other than third baseman Jazz Chisholm leaving the game early for the second night in a row, this time with left groin tightness, this was a good night for the Yankees, who were gunning for a seventh shutout of the season until Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Leiter after Oswald Peraza let an infield pop-up foul in for a cheap hit.
Two more infield hits after out brought in a third run when Leiter made a wild throw to first base after fielding a squibbler.
But with a runner on second and the tying run on deck, Williams came on to strike out Mark Canha and retire Jonahan India on a grounder to first to end the game.
The Yankees received an outstanding outing from Schmidt, who held the Royals to two hits over six shutout innings.
Schmidt pitched most of the night with a big lead because the bats tattooed Bubic, who was pitching on nine days rest because he was skipped a turn to limit his innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery.
After a scoreless first, Cody Bellinger started the Yankees’ big second with a leadoff triple. Anthony Volpe drove in the first run with a fielder’s choice groundball, Austin Wells laced an RBI double, Paul Goldschmidt singled in two runs and Ben Rice brought in the fifth with a line-drive single before the inning ended with Bellinger grounding out.
Aaron Judge punctuated the offensive show with a seventh-inning homer off reliever Steven Cruz, his 25th of the season and fourth in the last three games.
Chisholm injured his groin in the fifth inning when he walked and raced from first to third on a double by Volpe. He was replaced at third before the bottom of the fifth by Oswald Peraza.
“I think he’s OK,” Boone said. “He felt a little something in his groin. The tests and strength is good, but we’ll see what we have (Thursday).
The night before, Chisholm left the game in the seventh inning with a stiff neck and bloody thumb that occurred when he was tagged hard by Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia on a fifth-inning stolen base.
Just last week, Chisholm returned after missing 28 games with an oblique injury.
NOTABLE
— Judge’s 340th career homer moved him into a tie with Jack Clarke for 110th place all-time. He’s now one ahead of Tino Martinez, Dave Parker and Boog Powell.
— Right-hander Marcus Stroman allowed one run over 3.1 innings in a first rehab start pitching for Double-A Somerset, then afterward said he’s “open” to pitching in relief when he returns from a left knee injury that hasn’t him on the IL since the second week of April. In spring training, Stroman said he wouldn’t be willing to pitch out of the bullpen because, “I’m a starter.”
— After a two-hit, three-RBI first rehab game on Tuesday, DH Giancarlo Stanton (tennis elbow in both arms) was 1-for-4 with an RBI double and strikeout playing another for Somerset on Wednesday. The Yankees will decide on Thursday if Stanton will continue his rehab assignment or come off the IL for this weekend’s series in Boston.
— Closer Luke Weaver (hamstring) threw a bullpen on Thursday, his second since he went on the IL on June 3 (retro to June 1). He’s trending toward returning ahead of a reported 4-to-6 week recovery timeline. “It won’t be something we rush or force, but we’re going to listen to his body and how he’s responding,” Boone said. “But I would say, yes, it seems to be better than maybe the original (diagnosis).”
— Reliever Jake Cousins, whose rehab assignment with High-A Hudson Valley was paused after two outings last weekend due to elbow discomfort, has a UCL injury. This could end the righties season before it began, but Boone said the Yankees are “still gathering information.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Thursday: Yankees at Royals, 7:40 p.m., EST, YES & MLB Network. RHP Will Warren (4-3, 5.34) vs. RHP Seth Lugo (3-5, 3.46).
Friday: Yankees at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m., EST, YES & MLB Network. LHP Ryan Yarbrough (3-1, 4.17) vs. LHP Garrett Crochet (6-4, 2.35).
Saturday: Yankees at Red Sox, 7:15 p.m., EST, FOX. LHP Carlos Rodon (8-4, 2.87) vs. RHP Hunter Dobbins (3-1, 4.20).