Royals pounce in 4-run 8th, hold off Yankees

NEW YORK -- Too many times over the past two weeks, the Royals have found themselves running into outs or striking out in big moments to deflate momentum from their offense.

That’s why the eighth inning proved to be so crucial Tuesday night, not only to secure a 6-5 win over the Yankees in the series opener at Yankee Stadium, but to add to the overall offensive approach the Royals hope to accomplish this year.

• Box score

Kansas City knocked in four runs off Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga after managing just three hits and two runs in seven innings against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. The big inning overcame the one-run deficit Jake Brentz had put the Royals in during the seventh and gave them enough insurance to hold on, even as the Yankees stormed back against Kyle Zimmer in the bottom of the eighth.

“Really proud of the fact that the guys were just working to make something happen,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Put the ball in play, put pressure on the defense, use the middle of the field, and hand it to the next guy so he can do his job.”

The Royals went through their entire order in the eighth inning, starting with Whit Merrifield’s single and followed by Carlos Santana’s double. Then Merrifield tied the game on Ryan O'Hearn’s infield chopper that second baseman Tyler Wade couldn’t field and throw cleanly in time for an out.

“That’s a situation for us that they’re on their heels,” Matheny said. “We got an opportunity to put pressure on them and make them make a play, and they made a play, but fortunately we had a good enough jump to make it work.”

The infield single was O’Hearn’s second hit of the night -- following a game-tying solo homer off Cole in the fourth. In his first game back with the big league club since his demotion to Triple-A Omaha on May 28, O’Hearn saw his production from Omaha -- a 1.382 OPS and 12 home runs in 19 games -- translate to Kansas City.

“The numbers are there,” O’Hearn said. “I took those games very seriously. I thought every day that I could be in a big league game tomorrow. I could be at Yankee Stadium with the game on the line tomorrow. I think coming into tonight, I knew that I did things the right way the last couple weeks. I had that in the back of my mind.”

On Jarrod Dyson’s short chopper to Wade following O’Hearn’s single, Santana made a near perfect slide at home to beat the tag and give the Royals the lead.

“I saw his jump, and after the ball got in the glove, it all played in my mind that he wasn’t going to be able to cover the kind of ground he did,” Matheny said. “He found another gear. He’s been a little banged up, and to see him move like he needed to, it was a very big play for us.”

Hunter Dozier and Michael A. Taylor -- two Royals hitters who have been scuffling lately -- both knocked singles up the middle to score two more insurance runs. And the Royals would need every bit of that when DJ LeMahieu launched a two-run homer off Zimmer to make it a one-run game in the eighth.

The four-run eighth was the difference-maker Tuesday, but there were two other key moments the Royals had that allowed the offense to hold onto the win. When starter Brady Singer loaded the bases in the fourth inning with three consecutive walks, Matheny called on Kris Bubic to get the final out of the inning and keep the score tied, 2-2. Bubic needed only one pitch -- a curveball, his least-used pitch this year and not the signature changeup that has gotten so many outs before -- to get Giancarlo Stanton to ground out.

“I figured he was going to be aggressive in that situation, and he was out in front, hit it at the end of the bat, ball bounced our way,” Bubic said. “I think I probably surprised everybody throwing a curveball first pitch, but it was a good pitch and enough to get a weak groundout.”

And in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the Royals holding onto a one-run lead, Greg Holland allowed a leadoff single, threw a wild pitch and intentionally walked Gary Sánchez to put two on base with two outs.

Holland threw a fastball up and in to Brett Gardner, who popped out to end the game and give the Royals back-to-back wins for the first time since June 3-4 against Minnesota.

“I just have a great deal of confidence in him,” Matheny said. “It’s one of those situations where the stats don’t tell the whole story. This guy comes into big situations and makes really big pitches. He’s unflappable. His stuff is right for that situation.”