About Last Night: KCR 3, NYY 4

By Ethan Semendinger

September 12th, 2024

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It took 11 innings, but the Yankees were able to outlast the Royals, winning on a walk-off Jazz Chisholm single!

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Quick Stats -

• Winning Pitcher: Luke Weaver (5-3, 3.17 ERA)

• Losing Pitcher: Kris Bubic (0-1, 3.42 ERA)

• Save: N/A

• Home Runs (Kansas City): Michael Massey (13)

• Home Runs (New York): Juan Soto (39)

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Big Story - The Yankees, arguably, put up their best line-up ahead of the Tuesday night match-up against the Kansas City Royals. With a righty on the mound, the Yankees put together a line-up that mixed right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters from the top to the bottom.

Unfortunately, that line-up collected just 3 hits in a 5-0 shutout loss and it lead to yet another rubber game.

The game last night was the 11th rubber game the Yankees have played since the beginning of August. That is one in every series except for the recent series against the Cubs...where the Yankees dropped the 3rd game anyway.

And, with another series on the line, the Yankees put together a line-up that didn't include Austin Wells or Jasson Dominguez:

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Player(s) of the Game -

• Jazz Chisholm: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, Walk-Off Single!

Notable Performances -

• Juan Soto: 1-5, Run, Home Run, 2 RBI's, 2 K's

• Aaron Judge: 1-3, 2 BB's

• Anthony Rizzo: 1-2, 1 BB

• Luis Gil: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB's, 5 K's

• Tim Hill: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB's, 0 K's

• Tommy Kahnle: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB's, 1 K

• Luke Weaver: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB's, 3 K's, WIN!

Better to Forget -

• Giancarlo Stanton: 0-4, 2 K's

• Jose Trevino: 0-3

• Clay Holmes: 1.0 IP, 2 H's, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB's, 1 K, Blown Save (#12)

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The Game - When I do my game summaries, and it gets late, and I need to write about an extra-innings game where both nothing happened and a lot happened, I like to find fun ways to do the write-up. Today, I'm going to explain the game through the MLB.com "Key Moments". (These are based off of large win probability shifts.)

There are 18 plays to consider, so let's get into it.

Play 1: Freddy Fermin strikes out swinging (1st inning), -7.3% WP for Kansas City

Luis Gil did not get off to a great start last night. After a lead-off flyout, the Royals put up a double (Bobby Witt) and back-to-back walks to load the bases, early. However, Gil and the Yankees were able to escape without damage, in large part because of Fermin's strikeout to give the Yankees their crucial second out of the inning. This set-up an inning ending groundout to avoid trouble.

Play 2: Michael Massey hits a solo home run (4th inning), +13.3% WP for Kansas City

Michael Massey put up the only run in the first half of the game with a solo home run to right field in the 4th inning. Up to this point, the Royals had only worked one more runner into scoring position (after the first inning) and the Yankees had yet to do so. This homer looked to be an early game-setter.

Play 3: Juan Soto hits a 2-run home run (6th inning), +72.5% WP for New York

The Yankees made their big response two innings later, with a huge Juan Soto 2-run home run (video linked at the bottom of this article). After fouling a pitch off his left foot, Soto came back into the batters box and corked a pitch into the right field bleachers. Up to this point, the Yankees had had just 2 hits (1 turned into an out when Verdugo tried to stretch a single into a double) and just 2 walks.

Play 4: Tommy Pham singles, Kyle Isbel to 2nd (7th inning), +10% WP for Kansas City

Play 5: Bobby Witt Jr. lines out, Kyle Isbel to 3rd (7th inning), -4.6% WP for Kansas City

Play 6: Salvador Perez hits a sacrifice fly, scoring Kyle Isbel (7th inning), +3% WP for Kansas City

After a successful inning in relief in the 6th, the Yankees pulled Tim Hill and brought in Clay Holmes for the 7th in a 1-run game. All of these plays happened after a Kyle Isbel single, and they all lead to the Royals 2nd run to tie the game. Interestingly, even after losing his spot as the closer, Clay Holmes retroactively picks up a blown save after this performance, notching his 12th (!) of the season. Wow.

Play 7: Jose Trevino grounds-out, Anthony Volpe thrown out at home (7th inning), -14.3% WP for New York

Jose Trevino hit a weak ground ball up the first base line with runners on first and second. On the groundball, Volpe was able to get to third, and in some chaos where Trevino attempted to avoid the tag (he was called safe, before review), Volpe darted towards home...only to be thrown out. Unfortunately, matters turned worse because this was a play that was challenged, and won, by Kansas City. Turns out, Trevino was tagged out, which turned an infield single and baserunning blunder into an inning-ending ground-out 3-3-2 double play.

Play 8: Jake Cousins picks off Tommy Pham at first base (9th inning): -6.4% WP for Kansas City

This was a bad play for Kansas City that could've been turned great. (Maybe by design?) Tommy Pham was thrown out on the bases to end the inning, as the game looked to get towards extra innings. At the plate was Bobby Witt. If they Royals were able to get to the 10th inning, Pham would start at 2nd base, with no outs, and Witt batting with a fresh count. Luckily...

Play 9: Bobby Witt Jr. strikes out swinging (10th inning): -11.5% WP for Kansas City

Even though the Royals made it to the 10th, Bobby Witt struck out anyway, turning the baserunning blunder (again: maybe by design?) into a moot point...but things weren't all bad for the Royals in the first inning of extras.

Play 10: Darion Blanco steals 3rd base (10th inning): +12.3% WP for Kansas City

Play 11: Wild pitch by Jake Cousins, Darion Blanco scores (10th inning): +10.5% WP for Kansas City

Darion Blanco was called in to pinch-run for Tommy Pham in the top of the 10th inning. And, while Bobby Witts wasn't able to bring him home, a good steal of third and a wild pitch allowed the Royals to take a 1-run lead in the top of the inning. These plays worked out great for Kansas City and left me wondering why Jose Trevino (who has a weak arm) was calling for sliders in the dirt in such a pivotal spot.

Play 12: Oswaldo Cabrera sacrifice bunt, Anthony Volpe to 3rd (10th inning): -2.2% WP for New York

Play 13: Austin Wells pinch-hit sacrifice fly, Anthony Volpe scores (10th inning): +11.7% WP for New York

The Yankees played small ball in the right way in the 10th inning to take advantage of the "Manfred Man" and use Anthony Volpe's speed correctly. Cabrera quickly moved Volpe to third, and Wells hit a pinch-hit fly ball just deep enough for Volpe to tag-up on and get the tying run. (Though it was very close and was nearly a game-ending blunder!)

Play 14: Michael Massey flies out (11th inning): -11.5% WP for Kansas City

Play 15: Paul DeJong strikes out (11th inning): -8.3% WP for Kansas City

Play 16: Maikel Garcia strikes out (11th inning): -10.9% WP for Kansas City

Luke Weaver was called on to finish out the 10th inning and was left out for the 11th...and he dominated! He worked Massey into a weak flyout to shallow left field and pitched back-to-back strikeouts to keep the Royals scoreless in the top of the 11th. These three batters took Kansas City from a 50% chance to win to a 19.3% chance to win in just three at-bats. Amazing job by Luke Weaver.

Play 17: Kris Bubic intentionally walks Aaron Judge (11th inning): -1.3% WP for New York

While this didn't affect the end result at all, the intentional walk of Judge at the end of the game (to set-up a double-play) was a smart move by the Royals. But...

Play 18: Jazz Chisholm Jr. singles, Jon Berti scores (11th inning): +16.2% WP for New York

Jazz Chisholm came through with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th to score Jon Berti from 3rd base (who pinch-ran for "Manfred Man" Gleyber Torres and moved to third on a Juan Soto groundout), and to collect his first ever walk-off hit!

The Yankees win!

The Yankees...win!

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I'll be honest, I had 100% intention of doing a big rant here about some unimportant nonsense. However, it is late at night and I have to teach a whole bunch of middle schoolers in the morning, so I'm going to leave it here and get to bed.

I intend on writing my nonsense later today (if I have time) and hopefully it will get posted in the next few days. Note: My nonsense is not an article about DJ LeMahieu that will go up at 10:00 AM today, I wrote that article before the game last night.

It was a good Yankees win! And, I like it when the Yankees win!

Goodnight! (Or, I guess when you're reading this: Good Morning!)

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Next Up - Tonight, the Yankees (84-62) begin a 4 game series against the Boston Red Sox (74-72). The Yankees will send Nestor Cortes (9-10, 3.97 ERA) to face off against Cooper Criswell (6-4, 4.11 ERA). The game will be on FOX starting at 7:15 PM.