Royals Get To German Early, Hold On To Beat Yankees

Royals first baseman Ryan O'Hearn catching a Gleyber Torres pop-up down the line in right field. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Kansas City Royals jumped out to an early lead against Yankees starter Domingo German and went on to win 6-1 at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night.

The Yankees had no follow through from their emotional two-game sweep over the Red Sox, as they were dominated by Homer Bailey, who threw six innings, allowing just one run on three hits and a walk, with six strikeouts.


Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said of what Bailey did to shut down their offense, "It seemed like his split was the problem for us. We just were having a hard time laying off that pitch out of the zone. You know, when he's been good, that's a pitch that's really effective for him. He mixed in, he was keeping us honest with his fastball and able to throw strikes with his fastball, but the splitfinger was a really good pitch for him and we just had a hard time mounting (a rally). We hit some balls hard against him. DJ (LeMahieu) his a couple balls on the screws, Luke (Voit), Aaron (Judge), but for the most part, he kept us pretty silent."

The Royals got on the board in the top of the first when Adalberto Mondesi doubled and then scored on a double by Alex Gordon.

The Yankees got the run right back in the bottom of the first when Aaron Judge and Luke Voit singled with one out, and Gleyber Torres hit a sacrifice fly to score Judge. DJ LeMahieu hit a liner to third base to end the threat.

Kansas City then got a solo homer from Jorge Soler down the line in left in the second, and then a solo shot from Ryan O'Hearn in the fourth to make it 3-1.

German settled in after that, and kept it a 3-1 game. He went six innings, allowing three runs on six hits and no walks, with nine strikeouts.

This was German's first loss of the season after two great starts against Detroit and Baltimore, which he won, and then a solid relief appearance against the White Sox last Saturday.

Boone said of German, "Just not quite as sharp. A couple mistakes which turned into home runs. You know, still flashed his good stuff and gave us six innings, I think, just allowing those three runs, so he was able to keep us in the game enough without necessarily his best stuff, and we just had a hard time, obviously, mounting anything offensively tonight against Bailey."

The Yankees turned to Jonathan Holder in the seventh, and the Royals rallied.  Martin Maldonado and Billy Hamilton both singled, and then Whit Merrifield launched a double up the gap in left to score Maldonado.

That was all for Holder, and Zack Britton came on to pitch to Mondesi, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 5-1. Alex Gordon struck out to end the inning.

Kansas City added a run in the ninth on another Mondesi sacrifice fly against Joseph Harvey.

Royals reliever Ian Kennedy, who came on in the eighth and got the third out of that inning with a strikeout of Judge, stayed on for the ninth and the Yankees rallied.

Voit led off with a walk, and then Clint Frazier got a two-out single before Mike Ford struck out looking to end it.

Ford went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts in his Major League debut.

This Date In Yankees History - April 18:
1923 - The original Yankee Stadium opened its doors for its inaugural game as the Yankees defeat the Red Sox, 4-1. Starter Bob Shawkey records the win and Babe Ruth hits the park's first home run, a three-run shot in the third inning.
1929-  The Yankees wear numbered uniforms for the first time in their history, two days after the Cleveland Indians permanently adopt them as well. Numbers would become standard for all teams by 1932.