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Cole Mows Down Royals as Yankees Punch Ticket to ALCS

On Thursday night in Game 4 of the ALDS, Gerrit Cole dominated the Royals for seven innings of one-run ball - Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

In Game 4 of the ALDS, Gerrit Cole was the ace the Yankees signed him to be — making sure that the Bronx Bombers wouldn’t return to New York for a dramatic ALDS Game 5 against the Kansas City Royals, putting their postseason run in serious jeopardy.

The right-hander Cole, 34, silenced the Royals faithful for most of Thursday night by delivering seven innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts, and zero walks.

He needed just 87 pitches to get through seven innings, surrendering one run on an RBI double to designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino in the sixth after shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. reached with a single.

Cole’s biggest issue of the night was right fielder Tommy Pham, who got three hits on three different pitches from Cole. The veteran Pham is 16-39 (.400 batting average) against Cole in his career, including the postseason.

The last hit in the seventh almost created a Hollywood moment for center fielder Kyle Isbel, who just missed tying the game with a two-run home run as Juan Soto backed up and caught the ball on the track right up against the wall deep in right field. 

Cole escaped the jam and was done for the night after the scare.

The Yankees’ offense was aggressive in the first against the Royals’ right-handed starting pitcher Michael Wacha with Venezuelan second baseman Gleyber Torres hitting a leadoff double in the first, and Dominican right fielder Juan Soto driving him in with an RBI single, and it was 1-0 right away. 

Wacha escaped the first inning without allowing any more runs.

In the fifth, the Yankees offense added a little more, and Wacha was pulled with two outs in the fifth.  shortstop Anthony Volpe hit a single, first baseman Jon Berti, and Torres chased the Royals’ starter with an RBI single to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. 

Kansas City’s manager Matt Quatraro made an interesting move and went to right-handed closer Lucas Erceg to try and stop the Yanks in their tracks he got out of the fifth, but struggled in the sixth.

 Yankees’ captain Aaron Judge delivered a double into the left-center field gap against Erceg. 

Stanton, A Catalyst in Yanks ALDS Win Over KC

Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton stayed hot and drove in Judge with an RBI single in the visiting frame of the sixth. Stanton was 6-16 combined (.375 batting average) with one home run and four RBI throughout the ALDS (four games). He was far and away the Yankees’ best hitter in the series.

Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton clobbers a home run in Game 3 ALDS win in Kansas City – Image Credit: Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images

New York’s bullpen was the ‘x-factor’ and didn’t allow one run in the entire series. Righty Clay Holmes pitched the eighth and fired another scoreless inning with a strikeout, while right-handed closer Luke Weaver converted his third save of the series with a clean ninth and two strikeouts. 

Weaver got first baseman Yuli Gurriel to fly out to center fielder Aaron Judge, and the celebration was on for the Yankees in Kansas City. They advanced to the ALCS for the first time since 2022, their fourth in the last eight seasons.

Cole bounced back from his Game 1 performance at Yankee Stadium, in which he gave up three runs in five innings by doing exactly what the Yankees needed him to and once again proved he’s worth every penny of his $324 million deal. 

Cole Postseason Stats

Cole pitched 12 innings against the Royals, giving up four runs (3.00 ERA) and eight strikeouts. His Yankee postseason career numbers are 50.2 innings, 64 strikeouts, and an ERA of 3.41.

Gerrit Cole put up a dominant performance in Game 4 of the ALDS following a shaky Game 1 outing – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

Cole has pitched in eight MLB Postseasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and the Yankees — 11-6 overall record across 19 starts, 116.1 innings, 142 strikeouts, and an ERA of 2.94.

ALDS Breakdown

All of the games in this series were close for the Yankees with a 6-5 win, 4-2 loss, 3-2 win, and 3-1 win, outscoring the Royals by two runs, but it was enough to move on. The Yankees will need much better offensive production in the ALCS to reach their ultimate goal of the World Series. 

The Yankees are four wins away from appearing in their first World Series since 2009 – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

Yankees’ bullpen stats 

The Yankees’ bullpen pitched 15.2 scoreless innings throughout the ALDS win over Kansas City (0.00 ERA).  On the other hand, the Royals bullpen posted a 1.93 ERA, giving up six runs in 28 innings.

Looking ahead to ALCS 

Game 1 of the ALCS will start on Monday night, October 14 at Yankee Stadium, against the winner of ALDS Game 5 between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians on Saturday, October 12 (1:08 PM ET first pitch on TBS).

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