Tuesday marked the 12,000th game in the already historic career of Aaron Judge. He became the 33rd Yankee to reach that plateau in pinstripes and the player with the most home runs by game 12,000 in MLB history with 385, 58 ahead of Ralph Kiner. The captain and his teammates marked the occasion with aplomb, dismantling a 22-33 Royals squad in a laugher to take a three-game set while notching a nice little bit of history.
Bailey Falter served as the Royals’ opener, entering play with a 9.82 ERA. It
didn’t take the Yankees long to show him why. After retiring the first two batters of the game, the veteran southpaw allowed a home run to Clay Bellinger, a Stantonian blast that left the bat at 105 mph and cleared the right-field wall on a line.
Paul Goldschmidt, starting his sixth straight game after beginning the year in a reserve role, laced a double just over the head of the reigning AL Gold Glover at third base, Maikel Franco, before coasting into second with a double.
Despite the rocky start, Falter nearly got through the frame with just one run on the board. The struggling Ben Rice, who came into the game mired in a 5-for-37 funk, smoked one to right. The ball was playable for Jac Caglianone and the hulking right fielder initially appeared to make the inning-ending grab. Yankees manager Aaron Boone challenged the apparent snow-cone grab, and upon review it became clear the ball scraped the ground while in Caglianone’s glove, netting Rice a single and an RBI as Goldschmidt was awarded home.
Amed Rosario, making his first start in over a week, made that defensive miscue hurt two pitches later, yanking a hanging curveball 420 feet to left field.
When it landed, the Yankees had a 4-0 lead, an embarrassment of riches given their starter, Cam Schlittler, had yet to allow as many as four runs in any of his 11 outings entering play.
In the bottom half of the inning, Schlittler worked around a two-out single to put up a zero. He was aided by a nifty play from Anthony Volpe, gloving a ball in the gap between short and third and throwing across his body to retire a plodding Salvador Perez. Tuesday’s game marked Volpe’s second straight start at shortstop while his competition for the job, Jose Caballero, was on the bench for the first time since returning from injury on Friday. A few minutes after the inning-ending play, Volpe smoked a center-cut fastball deep to left center for his first home run of the season.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro let it ride with Falter, presumably in hopes of saving as many of his relievers as possible in what was quickly becoming a nightmare scenario: an unwinnable game requiring an emptying out of the bullpen. After allowing four more hits, he threw in the towel, pulling his opener with two on and one out in the third. The next man out of the Royals’ ‘pen, Luinder Avila, didn’t get off to a much better start. Volpe, the first batter he faced, lined an RBI single to score Rice.
Then, after Austin Wells singled to load the bases, Trent Grisham grounded out to first, scoring Rosario. Judge followed with a walk before Bellinger hit a hard grounder through the hole between first and second, scoring two more to stake the Yankees to a commanding 9-0 lead. The inning only ended, mercifully for KC, when Judge was thrown out advancing to third.
The Bombers continued to pile on, with Grisham and Jazz Chisholm Jr. going yard in the late innings. Every starter ended up with at least two hits, a first in the Yankees’ long history. In total, New York hitters reached base 29 times, accounting for more than half of their plate appearances. After winning their last two games in the ninth inning to break out of a 4-10 skid, the comfortable victory was, as Ryan Ruocco put it on the broadcast, a much-needed chance to exhale.
Bellinger, who entered this series facing a narrative that he was struggling to hit away from Yankee Stadium, led the way with a three-RBI showing. Rosario, buoyed by a two-run shot in the ninth against utilityman Tyler Tolbert, actually ended up with the gaudiest stat line, notching four hits and as many RBI to make a case for expanded playing time.
Judge reached safely in four of his five plate appearances from the two hole. Rice notched three hits to break out of his slide. Perhaps most consequentially in the scope of the Yankees’ season, Volpe’s three-hit, three-run, two-RBI day continued to build on the erstwhile golden boy’s case to regain the starting shortstop role he’d held the last three seasons.
This offensive output placed Schlittler firmly in the catbird seat. He took full advantage, allowing just one run (on a Bobby Witt Jr. homer) on four hits. Despite throwing just 77 pitches, he was pulled for Ryan Yarbrough after six innings, cruising to his seventh victory of the season. The showing was just another day at the office for the sophomore starter, whose 1.50 ERA was unchanged by the dominant showing.
The Yankees will go for the sweep tomorrow. Gerrit Cole’s scheduled to make his second start of the season for the Yanks while the Royals will hand the ball to left-hander Noah Cameron. The game, which will air on Amazon Prime, is scheduled to start at 7:40pm ET.
