Salvador Perez’s leadoff home run in the fourth inning ignited a four-run rally against Carlos Rodón, propelling the Kansas City Royals to a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night. The win evened their AL Division Series at one game apiece.
After an inconsistent outing from Cole Ragans, four Royals relievers held the Yankees in check. Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson, and Maikel Garcia each contributed RBI singles to Kansas City’s offensive outburst. Garcia, batting first in the lineup for the first time in the series, finished with four hits.
Game 3 of this best-of-five playoff series will be played on Wednesday night at Kansas City, marking the Royals’ first postseason home game since the 2015 World Series.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 1-for-3 with an infield single, extending his series slump to 1-for-7 with four strikeouts. Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr., a strong contender for the AL MVP award, went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, dropping his series batting average to 0-for-10.
For the first time since 1995, all four Division Series have opened with a 1-1 tie.
Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees an early lead with an RBI single in the third inning, but New York struggled to capitalize on scoring opportunities, going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position for the game.
Royals starter Cole Ragans allowed just one run and three hits while striking out five and walking four. Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber each followed with hitless innings, and Kris Bubic pitched two scoreless innings. Lucas Erceg earned his third save of the postseason, retiring Gleyber Torres on a grounder to end the game.
Perez, the only remaining Royals player from their 2015 championship team, tied the score with his home run off Rodón. The nine-time All-Star has had success against the former Chicago White Sox pitcher, entering the game with a .462 batting average and three home runs in 26 at-bats.
Yuli Gurriel scored on Pham’s one-out single, giving the Royals a 2-1 lead. Pham stole second base and scored on Hampson’s two-out single. Garcia added another RBI single off Ian Hamilton, extending Kansas City’s lead to 4-1.
Rodón, a potential Game 5 starter, allowed four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. Twenty-four of the 32 home runs he has allowed this season have been solo shots.
