NEW YORK -- Yankees third baseman DJ LeMahieu will be the first to tell you that he has been inconsistent in the batter’s box this season. Entering Saturday’s action, he had a slash line of .232/.295/.364 in 83 games.

But his seventh-inning home run brought back memories of his early days with New York in a 5-2 victory over the Royals on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. By winning the first two games against Kansas City, the Yankees won their first series during the month of July.

“I felt we put together a couple of pretty good games overall. [If we win tomorrow], it would feel even better,” LeMahieu said.

The score was tied at 2 when LeMahieu faced right-hander Carlos Hernández to lead off the seventh inning. LeMahieu worked the count full, then hit the ball over the right-field wall to give New York a one-run lead. It was LeMahieu’s eighth home run of the season.

“That felt good,” LeMahieu said. “I was trying to get on base somehow. I put a pretty good swing on it.”

It felt good in the batter’s box because LeMahieu has made adjustments. He was reluctant to talk about the changes he made at the plate, saying he made tweaks in his upper body and lower half. Whatever he is doing, LeMahieu is more explosive in the hitting zone.

“I’m trying to simplify, also staying loose and aggressive. [I was working on] some stuff … right before the [All-Star] break. I took it into the break. I was kind of really excited to get back in after the break. I feel I’m on the right track.”

So far, it has paid off for LeMahieu during the second half of the season. He’s hit 10-for-29, and he collected his first RBI of the break on Saturday.

“Today was a really nice stroke for him,” said right-hander Gerrit Cole. “I told him on the bench I felt … maybe like six weeks ago, he hit a ball even harder than that. Somebody went over the wall and robbed him. That’s the way things were going. 

“He was able to hit that ball today so pure and give us a lead. You know he is going to fight and put up a quality at-bat. With a hitter like DJ, the more often that you get him in there, the more often he gets quality at-bats. Things are going to break his way. He is too good of a hitter. It’s nice to see him push us over with the lead and get the go-ahead run today.”          

Asked if he was back to being the consistent hitter that he was with the Yankees in 2019 and ‘20, the year he won the batting title, LeMahieu said, “I feel like I’m in a good place. The best years I’ve had, I felt I could do a little bit better. The season I’ve had this year, I know I have quite a bit more to give. Hopefully, [I can] help the team keep going, make the playoffs and win the World Series. That’s kind of where I’m at.”

The Yankees added to the lead in the eighth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer off right-hander Dylan Coleman.

Cole had another quality start, but the Royals didn’t make it easy for him. He cruised the first two innings but allowed a leadoff homer to Nick Pratto to tie the score at 1 in the top of the third.

Cole was given a 2-1 lead by the bottom of the third, but he allowed the tying run to score again in the fifth, when Maikel Garcia hit an RBI single.

"Any time you play and you know Cole is pitching, runs are going to be at a premium,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro. “I thought we competed well against him. Two runs isn't a lot of runs, but the way the at-bats went, [we] made him work. We had a couple of opportunities, but there's a reason that he's one of the elite pitchers in recent baseball."

With 10 strikeouts vs. the Royals, Cole recorded his 60th double-digit strikeout game and his franchise-record 25th as a member of the Yankees.

Cole said it was fun working with catcher Ben Rortvedt for the first time this season.

“We made a lot of good pitches. We worked out of a jam in the fifth. We kept the damage low and stayed efficient until we got to the seventh,” Cole said.