KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The New York Yankees couldn’t complete the Royal flush.
Clay Holmes’ blown save Thursday allowed the Kansas City Royals to steal a 4-3 win and avoid a four-game sweep in Kansas City.
Maikel Garcia’s walk-off two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning erased the Yankees’ 3-2 lead and clinched Kansas City’s comeback.
The Royals’ Drew Waters began the rally with a one-out single on a soft ground ball to first base. The slow roller ended up between Holmes, who ran past it as he raced to cover first, and Anthony Rizzo, who didn’t charge the ball before fielding it.
Waters managed to beat the throw.
“That’s a tough read,” manager Aaron Boone said. “If Rizz comes and gets it, does he beat him back to the bag? I don’t know. From the dugout, it looked like Clay sort of had a beat on it, but it’s more of a no-man’s-land ball.”
Holmes said attempting to field the ball himself would have taken him off of his line to first base.
“I didn’t want to stray too far from my line in case Rizz was going for it and I needed to cover first base,” Holmes said. “It was just perfectly in between.”
Rizzo also described it as a tricky play and said Waters “just beat it out.”
With two outs, No. 9 hitter Kyle Isbel fought back from an 0-2 count and struck a single. That set up Garcia’s game-winner down the left-field line on a 2-0 sinker.
“I just can’t fall behind 2-0 there,” Holmes said. “Once he sees two sinkers and has got count leverage, he’s just selling out for that pitch there.”
The comeback completed a roller-coaster game in which Royals starter Alec Marsh held the Yankees hitless for six innings and scoreless for seven, only for the Kansas City bullpen to melt down as soon as he left.
The Yankees trailed, 2-0, before rallying for three runs in the eighth inning, with Juan Soto’s two-out RBI single against Angel Zerpa putting them up, 3-2.
“I was just pushing my teammates and telling my teammates we were going to try to win,” Soto said. “Definitely, I wanted to be up.”
Thursday marked Soto’s fourth game back since missing three in a row over the weekend with left forearm inflammation. He also broke up Marsh’s no-hit bid with a single to lead off the seventh.
Soto continues to demonstrate a flair for the dramatic. He is now hitting .396 with 39 RBI in 53 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Rizzo led off the eighth with a solo home run against reliever John Schreiber. The home run was the first since May 10 for Rizzo, who entered Thursday 2-for-37 in June and had sat out of Sunday and Monday’s games in an attempt to reset.
It was a rough day for Aaron Judge, who struck out in each of his four at-bats to end his streak of getting on base at 37 consecutive games.
Holmes’ fourth blown save squandered a strong start by Nestor Cortes, who held Kansas City (40-30) to two runs in seven innings. His lone blemish came in the fourth, when Vinnie Pasquantino struck a two-run double.
It was the best road start of the year for Cortes, who entered Thursday with a 6.17 ERA away from Yankee Stadium compared to a 1.77 mark in the Bronx.
“I think all losses hurt, especially when you’re up and you’re leading,” Cortes said. “But then again, they also are professionals. They have a bat that they swing pretty well, and stuff went their way [in the ninth] inning. Overall, you let go of this one and you start a new series tomorrow.”
The loss snapped the Yankees’ (49-22) four-game winning streak, which included victories in each of the first three games in Kansas City this week. They will try to get back into the win column in Boston, where they’re set to begin their first series of the season against the rival Red Sox on Friday night.
Luis Gil (8-1, 2.04 ERA) is scheduled to kick off the three-game set for the Yankees, while Brayan Bello (6-3, 4.78) is slated to start for Boston.
