Yankees advance to ALCS behind pitching of Gerrit Cole, Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver in Game 4 win over Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Yankees are in the American League Championship Series for the fourth time in the last eight years, and this time, longtime October nemesis Houston won’t be there to stop them.

Behind seven terrific innings from Gerrit Cole, perfect relief from Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver and just enough offense — highlighted by a second straight standout performance from Giancarlo Stanton — the Yankees closed out the Royals with a tense 3-1 victory in front of 39,012 at Kauffman Stadium.

The Yankees will host either the Guardians or Tigers — the fifth and deciding game of that series will be played Saturday in Cleveland — in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday night at the Stadium.

The Royals hit eight balls of at least 100 mph off Cole in Game 1, a night in which the righthander wasn’t super-sharp. He allowed four runs (three earned), seven hits and two walks in five innings-plus in which he struck out only four against a lineup that specializes in putting the ball in play.

Though the Royals made more hard contact as Thursday night wore on, they never really got to Cole, who allowed one run, six hits and no walks and struck out four. Tommy Pham went 3-for-3 against him and the rest of the Royals were 3-for-29 in the game.

Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and closer Luke Weaver struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save of the series.

Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres and and Stanton each had an RBI single in the game, and it  took the Yankees all of three pitches to give Cole the lead for good. Torres lasered Michael Wacha’s first pitch of the night into the gap in left-center for a double and Soto grounded an RBI single to make it 1-0. Aaron Judge, who later doubled for his first extra-base hit of the series, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, dropping him to 1-for-11 in the series to that point, and Austin Wells lined to left for the third out.

Cole fell behind leadoff man Michael Massey 2-and-0 before striking him out swinging at a  96-mph heater. Bobby Witt Jr. flied to right, which dropped him to 1-for-14 in the series, and Vinnie Pasquantino struck out looking at a 97-mph fastball to end the 14-pitch inning.

Stanton led off the second by slicing a full-count cutter down the rightfield line for a double, but Wacha retired the next three batters.

Cole made it six-up, six-down with a nine-pitch bottom half, retiring Salvador Perez and Yuli Gurriel on soft fly balls to center and MJ Melendez, who homered off Cole in Game 1, on a grounder to short.

The Royals made their first hard contact — and got their first hit of the night — in the bottom of the third when  Pham improved to 14-for-37 in his career vs. Cole, lining a single to right. Kyle Isbel  grounded into a 1-6 forceout and went to second on Maikel Garcia’s groundout to third. Cole stranded him, striking out Massey swinging at a 96-mph fastball.

The Yankees bumped their lead to two runs in the fifth. Volpe, who hit the ball hard all series with not much to show for it, lined a one-out single to left. Alex Verdugo grounded into a 4-6 forceout and went to third on a single to right by Jon Berti. Torres then slashed an RBI single to right to make it 2-0.

 Judge led off the sixth with a rocket double to left — his second hit of the series — and went to third on Wells’ groundout to second. With the infield in, Stanton’s blistering two days continued as he banged an RBI single back up the middle for a 3-0 lead.

The benches cleared in the sixth as the enmity that has slowly built throughout the series between the teams boiled over. Garcia led off with a single and when Massey scorched a grounder to first, Berti stepped on the bag before firing to Volpe at second. The shortstop put a hard tag on the sliding Garcia — intentionally or unintentionally, depending on one’s perspective, putting his right forearm in the third baseman’s chest in an attempt to move him further from the bag — and then tapped him again with his glove. Volpe patted Garcia again after the out call and Garcia began walking to the dugout before turning back around after Jazz Chisholm, roaming over from third, appeared to say something to him. As Garcia walked back toward second, Volpe dismissively waved him away and the benches soon cleared, though it turned out to be nothing more than the usual grabbing and jawing before order was restored.

It did seem to fire up the Royals, who got a two-out single from Witt and an RBI double by Pasquantino that made it 3-1.

Pham singled with two outs in the seventh and Isbel missed a tying homer by inches, flying to Soto at the base of the rightfield wall. Cole's reaction as the ball headed toward the wall made it clear that he knew he had narrowly escaped disaster.