KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Gerrit Cole needed only a sliver of support, and once the Yankees finally gave it to him, the rout was on.
The right-hander struck out 10 over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, and Ben Rice drove in three runs, as New York completed a three-game sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Royals on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. The win was the Yankees’ fourth straight and pushed them to 34-22.
For three innings, though, it looked like Cole might have to carry the whole thing himself. Royals left-hander Noah Cameron retired the first nine hitters in order, a stark contrast to the 24-hit barrage the Yankees had unleashed a night earlier. New York did not record a baserunner until the fourth.
That is when Paul Goldschmidt singled through the right side to lead off the inning, and Rice followed by lacing a 104.5 mph drive off the left field wall. The ball took a long carom, and Rice legged it into a triple while Goldschmidt churned all the way home from first base. Aaron Judge then lifted a sacrifice fly to bring in Rice, staking Cole to a 2-0 cushion.
It stayed there longer than the Yankees would have liked. They squandered a chance in the sixth when Judge grounded into a double play and Cody Bellinger flied out with two aboard. Cameron, who allowed two runs over five innings, kept the Yankees within range despite getting almost no help from the Royals’ offense or bullpen.
Seventh-inning surge breaks the game open for the Yankees
The dam broke in the seventh. Grisham and McMahon singled around a walk to Anthony Volpe, loading the bases with nobody out, only for Cameron’s replacement to retire the next two hitters. But the order turned over at the worst possible moment for Kansas City.
Goldschmidt drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, and Ben Rice ripped a single to right that scored two more for a 5-0 Yankees lead. McMahon gave the Yankees the exclamation point in the eighth, driving a two-run homer the opposite way, where four of his five longballs this season have landed.
Rice finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a walk and has gone 5-for-9 with two free passes over the last two games. Goldschmidt added two hits, an RBI and a run-scoring walk while setting an aggressive tone on the bases for the Yankees.
Cole’s 28th 10-strikeout game sets a Yankees franchise mark
Cole was the Yankees’ headliner all the same, and his second start back from Tommy John surgery was even sharper than his first. The 35-year-old scattered four hits and walked nobody on 79 pitches, his fastball topping out at 98.4 mph and averaging 96.3. The Yankees right-hander generated 15 swinging strikes across a six-pitch mix, with his slider alone accounting for six whiffs.
The strikeouts marked the clearest sign of his progress. After fanning just two Tampa Bay hitters in his debut, the Yankees ace matched that figure in the first inning alone and racked up seven through four frames. His control was the bigger revelation, given that command tends to be the last thing to return from elbow reconstruction. He issued three walks against the Rays but none against Kansas City, reaching a three-ball count only twice as the Yankees cruised.
The outing also wrote Cole into the Yankees’ record book. His 28th career double-digit strikeout game in pinstripes is the most by any pitcher in franchise history, and it was his first 10-strikeout effort since Aug. 10, 2024. He has yet to allow a run across 12 2/3 innings since returning, a stretch that began with six scoreless frames against Tampa Bay last Friday.
Manager Aaron Boone, who had watched Cole rebuild his arm strength slowly in the minors, did not hide his enthusiasm about what he saw. He cast the two starts as a meal that kept getting better.
“Maybe the first game was the appetizer,” Boone said. “That was the main course right there. He was dominant and had everything going.”
Judge’s throw home protects the shutout
The Royals mustered only one genuine threat, and it died at the plate thanks to the Yankees’ captain. With Michael Massey aboard on a one-out double in the third, Maikel Garcia singled to right and Massey tried to score. Judge charged the ball, fielded it on a hop and fired a strike to catcher Austin Wells, who slapped the tag on the sliding runner for the third out.
Cole pointed to that play as the turning point of the night, the moment that snapped his Yankees teammates to attention. He said the throw changed the entire mood in the dugout.
“Aaron made a great play,” Cole said. “The mood in the dugout was, ‘OK, we’ve got to have a little urgency.’ That was just a big tone-setting play for us.”
The Yankees bullpen preserved the shutout after Boone lifted Cole with two outs in the seventh and a runner aboard. Fernando Cruz stranded the inherited runner and tossed clean relief, and Camilo Doval closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The victory came soaked in history. New York has now beaten Kansas City 14 consecutive times overall, a streak dating to Sept. 11, 2024, and the Yankees swept the season series while outscoring the Royals 50-10. They also outscored Kansas City 26-4 across the three games this week.
One feat stood above the rest. It was only the second time in 75 seasons that the Yankees scored 22 or more runs while allowing one or fewer over any two-game span. The only previous instance came June 19-20, 2000, against the Red Sox.
After a day of rest, the Yankees will head to Sacramento, CA, for a series against the Athletics. Left-hander Carlos Rodon, carrying an 0-2 record and a 4.15 ERA, is scheduled to take the mound in Game 1.
What do you think about Cole’s performnace? Can he susutain it?
