Thursday night, Gerrit Cole performed like a playoff ace, allowing only one run to be scored over the course of seven innings to lead the New York Yankees to a 3-1 victory that re-established them in the American League Championship Series.
The six-time All-AmericanAfter giving up four runs and scattering six hits, Star turned the ball over to the New York bullpen, which controlled a tight AL division series. With his flawless eighth inning and his smooth ninth, Luke Weaver continued the Yankees relievers’ postseason record of 15 2/3 innings without giving up a run.
At Yankee Stadium on Monday night, New York will begin its ALCS matchup with either Cleveland or Detroit.
Manager of the Yankees Aaron Boone expressed his pride in these guys. “We get to go play for it now and we’re excited about that.”
With runs scored by Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, and Game 3 hero Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees appropriately secured a spot in their fourth ALCS in eight years away from home. In the regular season, they won 50 games away from home, which is a record for the last 21 years.
For Kansas City, Michael Wacha gave up two runs, six hits, and a walk in his five innings of work. A long-scuffling offence that mustered just five runs in the final three games of the series did little to assist him.
“You know, this is where our season ended in 2023. “We didn’t make it to the postseason,” declared Aaron Judge, who helped New York secure its last out. “I remember a lot of these guys were looking out on the field, and you know, we all kind of came together and said, ‘It’s not going to happen again.'”
After September 8, Kansas City lost nine straight games, including the playoffs, and did not win a game at home.
Nevertheless, it was an incredible comeback for a team that was a laughingstock a year ago with 106 losses and was now playing in its first postseason since winning the World Series in 2015. In addition, Kansas City hopes that this was only the beginning and not the conclusion, as young players like Bobby Witt Jr. have signed long-term contracts.
“Feel really badly for those guys in the room,” Matt Quatraro, the Royals manager, said, “because as you know, this is seven, eight months of the year that they just pour it all into it, and give every ounce of effort and energy they have.”
Setting the tone early on, New York attacked Wacha just like it had in the first game of the series. On the third pitch of the evening, Soto singled with two runs scored after Torres doubled off the veteran right-hander’s first fastball of the game.
Following his single in the fifth, Anthony Volpe increased the pressure. Additionally, Torres lined a two-out single to make it 2-0 and end Wacha’s night after Jon Berti singled and Alex Verdugo grounded into a forceout.
Cole, meanwhile, appeared to gain stronger as he continued to log innings.
Before Tommy Pham’s single in the fifth inning, the reigning Cy Young Award winner retired his first six batters, pitched around a leadoff single in the third, and then retired eight more. That inning was quickly ended by Cole striking out Kyle Isbel on three pitches.
Stanton’s single in the sixth inning increased the advantage to 3-0. Stanton blasted the game-winning home run in the eighth inning of Game 3.
In the sixth inning, tensions that had built during the entire series—and throughout the entire night, following Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s comment that the Royals’ Game 2 victory was “lucky”—boiled over. To finish a double play, Volpe hard-tagged Maikel Garcia at second base, which infuriated the Royals third baseman. It took the players overflowing from both dugouts for order to be restored.
