Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled in pinch runner Jon Berti from third base with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the New York Yankees a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Kansas City Royals in the rubber game of their three-game series on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Chisholm hit a line drive into the hole at short against a drawn-in infield that shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. made a diving stop on but Berti, who pinch-ran for automatic runner Gleyber Torres and had advanced to third on Juan Soto’s groundout, easily beat Witt’s throw to the plate for the game-winner.
It was the first walk-off hit of Chisholm’s career. Soto reached the 100-RBI mark for the second straight season and the third time in his career with a two-run homer for New York (84-62). With the win, the Yankees extended their first-place lead in the American League East to 1 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles.
Soto joined Aaron Judge (126) as the first pair of Yankees teammates to have 100-plus RBIs in a season since 2011 when Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira all accomplished the feat.
Luke Weaver (5-3) struck out three while pitching 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win for the Yankees.
Michael Massey homered and Tommy Pham went 3-for-4 with a walk for Kansas City (80-67), which dropped 4 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. Kris Bubic (0-1) suffered the loss.
Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on Massey’s 13th home run of the season, a 375-foot drive to right off Yankees starter Luis Gil.
New York took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning on Soto’s 39th homer, a 402-foot drive to right, driving in Torres, who had walked. The hit came one pitch after Soto collapsed on his knees after hopping halfway up the first base line after fouling a pitch off the inside of his right ankle. Soto remained down for several minutes before staying in the game and then blasting a 2-2 knuckle curve by Royals starter Cole Ragans deep into the right field bleachers.
Kansas City tied it, 2-2, in the seventh off New York reliever Clay Holmes. Kyle Isbel led off with a single, advanced to second on a single by Pham, advanced to third on a flyout to right by Witt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez.
The Royals took a 3-2 lead in the 10th inning when automatic runner Dairon Blanco, pinch-running for Pham, stole third and scored on a wild pitch by Jake Cousins.
The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the 10th when Oswaldo Cabrera sacrificed automatic runner Anthony Volpe to third and pinch hitter Austin Wells then drove him in with a sacrifice fly.
–Field Level Media
