The Yankees kept it rolling over the Royals, making it 14 straight overall against Kansas City while sweeping the season series. Behind a vintage Gerrit Cole performance and a huge night from Ben Rice, the Yankees came away with a 7-0 victory over the Royals.
If Tuesday night was about fireworks, Wednesday night was about control. Cole looked completely locked in from the opening pitch. This new, thicker, smoother version of Cole is pure art on the mound. If Cole gets any better than this, watch out American League.
The ace carved through Kansas City’s lineup with precision, allowing just four hits across 6.2 scoreless innings while striking out 10 Royals hitters. Cole did not walk a batter, needed only 79 pitches to navigate nearly seven innings, and looked stronger as the game progressed.
The veteran consistently got ahead in counts and buried hitters once he had leverage, looking every bit like he had not missed any time at all. Cole 2.0 appears well on track to filling a role very similar to the one he held before the injury. The one real threat Cole faced was erased by Aaron Judge, who dropped the gavel at home plate when the Royals tried to run on the captain.
The bullpen handled the rest from there as Fernando Cruz worked 1.1 clean innings out of the bullpen before Camilo Doval tossed a scoreless ninth inning to seal the victory. Cole did not leave any strikeouts for the bullpen, but the clean low stress innings are very welcomed.
The Yankees opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Paul Goldschmidt worked his way aboard and got a chance to show that the old man still has some tread left on the tires after Rice drove an opposite-field triple off the left field wall. Goldschmidt never stopped running, charging all the way home from first base as the Yankees grabbed a 1-0 lead. The full-speed athleticism of both Yankees first basemen was on full display as Rice flew into third for the triple. Aaron Judge later added to the lead with a sacrifice fly that brought Rice home and gave Cole a little extra breathing room.
For much of the night, however, the game still carried the feeling that one swing could change everything and that the Yankees might get stuck at two runs again. That changed in the seventh inning when the Yankees finally broke through again. To his credit, Noah Cameron tossed 5.0 innings of two-run ball, but the Royals offense failed to give him any support and the bullpen could not keep the game within reach either.
The inning started with traffic everywhere as Trent Grisham, Anthony Volpe, and Ryan McMahon all found their way aboard. Then Rice came through again. The young slugger lined a single into right field that plated both McMahon and Volpe while moving Goldschmidt to third. Suddenly the Yankees had a 5-0 lead and Kauffman Stadium was starting to empty.
The Yankees were not finished either. In the eighth inning, McMahon delivered the exclamation point when he launched a two-run homer into the left field seats. The blast scored Grisham and stretched the lead to 7-0, fully slamming the door on the Royals.
Rice finished the night with three RBI and once again looked like one of the most important bats in the Yankees lineup. Between his opposite-field triple, clutch seventh-inning single, and continued emergence, Rice continues proving he rightfully belongs in the middle of the Yankees’ short-term and long-term plans.
It is always fun to hear the Yankees win. Tomorrow is an off day, but the club returns to action Friday in Sacramento with first pitch scheduled for 8:40 p.m. eastern. Carlos Rodón is currently scheduled to face old pal Luis Severino.