Luke Voit homered in his return, but a nightmare eighth inning cost the Yankees as they lost to the Royals on Tuesday night, 6-5.
Here are some of the key takeaways…
– In his first game back off the injured list, it didn’t take Voit very long to find his power stroke. On the very first pitch he saw in the first, Voit got a hanging slider and crushed it over the wall in left to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Yankees went on to load the bases later in the first, but Clint Frazier grounded out to end the inning and keep it a 1-0 game.
– Kyle Higashioka got into the mix in the second inning with a solo home run of his own to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead, but the Royals got to Gerrit Cole for runs in each of the next two innings to tie the game at 2 headed into the fifth.
– Cole continued to cruise into the seventh before running into another bit of a trouble. With a runner on second and two outs, Cole appeared to strike out Michael A. Taylor on a 3-2 pitch, but the breaking ball was called high. The right-hander recovered, however, and struck out Nicky Lopez to end the inning and the threat. Cole finished his night allowing two runs on three hits, striking out six batters and walking three.
– Voit came up big again in the bottom of the seventh, hitting what was ruled to be a fan-interference triple with one out. Tyler Wade came on to pinch run, and Jake Brentz uncorked a wild pitch to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
– Jonathan Loaisiga was brought on to try to get through the eighth, but the right-hander recorded just one out and surrendered four runs before Lucas Luetge was called on to replace him. By the time the dust settled in the top of the eighth, the Royals held a 6-3 lead.
– DJ LeMahieu brought the Yankees within one thanks to a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, and just like that the Yankees had life again, trailing by a score of 6-5. And after Aaron Judge doubled to put the tying run in scoring position, that pulse was beating even harder. But Rougned Odor (who had come on as a defensive replacement for Voit) popped out, and Giancarlo Stanton grounded to third to keep it a one-run game.
– After the Royals went down quietly in the top of the ninth, Gio Urshela led off the bottom half with a bloop single to right, though he had to leave the game hobbling to the dugout. Miguel Andujar replaced him at first, and advanced to second on a wild pitch that struck out Gleyber Torres. Frazier struck out for the second out, but then Mike Matheny opted to put the winning run on base when he intentionally walked Gary Sanchez. But Greg Holland got Brett Gardner to pop up and end the game.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees and Royals are back in action Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. when Michael King takes on Danny Duffy.