Yankees nip Royals in 11 innings
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jacoby Ellsbury's two-out, 10th-inning infield single scored pinch runner Aaron Hicks as the New York Yankees outlasted the Kansas City Royals 5-4 Tuesday night.
The Royals loaded the bases in the 10th with one out but failed to score. Chasen Shreve, called up from the minors before the game, got the final two outs for his first career big league save.
Ellsbury's sharp grounder ricocheted off pitcher Joakim Soria to third baseman Christian Colon for his fourth hit. That matched Ellsbury's career high, the 14th time in his career he accomplished it.
Soria gave up singles to Brian McCann and Chase Headley to begin the inning before striking out the next two batters. Brett Gardner drew his third walk to load the bases before Ellsbury's hit. The Yankees went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position, stranding 13 runners.
Soria (4-6) gave up one run on three hits in his lone inning. Dellin Betances (3-4) tossed two scoreless innings to pick up the victory.
Brian McCann collected three hits for New York, and Brett Gardner had two hits and three walks.
The Royals tied it in the eighth without a hit. Tyler Clippard walked Lorenzo Cain leading off the inning and was replaced by All-Star reliever Betances. Cain stole second and advanced to third on catcher Gary Sanchez's throwing error. Kendrys Morales' sacrifice fly scored Cain, making it 4-4.
The Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a two-run Aaron Judge homer in the second inning, then an Ellsbury RBI double and a Chase Headley sacrifice fly in the third.
Kansas City cut the deficit on a Jarrod Dyson run-scoring triple in the third, Kendrys Morales' solo homer in the fourth and Lorenzo Cain's RBI double in the sixth. Dyson finished 3-for-5.
After a 59-minute rain delay before the top of the sixth could start, Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka was not allowed to come back out. He yielded two runs on four hits, walking none and striking out four. He is 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in his past five starts.
Royals starter Edinson Volquez gave up four runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings.
NOTES: The Yankees recalled LHP Chasen Shreve from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, his fourth stint with the Yankees this season. The Yankees optioned RHP Kirby Yates to Pulaski of the Appalachian League. ... Royals OF Billy Burns celebrated his 27th birthday. ... The Royals went 9-16 when OF Lorenzo Cain was on the disabled list in July. They are 20-11 since he returned. ... Yankees OF prospect Ben Gamel was named the MVP of the International League, where he is hitting .308 and leads the league with 80 runs and is third with 149 hits. ... Yankees RHP Luis Cessa (4-0, 4.11 ERA) and Royals RHP Ian Kennedy (9-9, 3.57) are the Wednesday probables for the series finale.