Yankees walk off Royals in 11th inning on Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s infield single

This much can be said: Should the Yankees see the Royals again in 2024, they won’t be the typical American League Central patsy – the Minnesota Twins immediately jump to mind – that generally quivers at the site of pinstripes in October.

The Yankees, after steamrolling the Royals Monday night then were promptly steamrolled by Seth Lugo Tuesday night, escaped with a 4-3 victory in 11 innings in Wednesday night’s series finale in front of 40,908 at the Stadium.

The Yankees (84-62), who won it in the 11th on an infield single with one out by Jazz Chisholm Jr., increased their lead over the Orioles to 1 ½ games in the AL East. The Orioles lost to the Red Sox.

“Big series win for us against a really good club over there that threw some really good pitching at us,” Aaron Boone said.

Jon Berti, who began the bottom of the 11th on second as the pinch runner for ghost runner Gleyber Torres, went to third on Juan Soto’s groundout. After an intentional walk to Aaron Judge, his MLB-leading 19th, Chisholm scorched a grounder to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who was unable to make the play at home to get Berti.

“It felt like a playoff game,” said Chisholm, acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline. “I think it was the eighth inning, we got a strikeout and the whole crowd erupted and I was wide-eyed, and I was like, ‘This is sick. And it ain’t even October yet.’ I can’t wait.”

The extra innings capped an overall entertaining game – and series – against the young, athletic and deep Royals (80-67), still very much in the race for not only an AL playoff spot but the Central title.

After Kansas City took a 3-2 lead in the 10th on a Jake Cousins wild pitch, a sacrifice bunt by Oswaldo Cabrera and sacrifice fly to left by pinch hitter Austin Wells brought in Anthony Volpe to tie it 3-3.

Luke Weaver, who struck out one of two batters in relief of Cousins in the 10th, struck out two of three in the top of the 11th and was serenaded with “Luuuuuuuke” from the crowd as he came off the mound. Though Boone, after demoting Clay Holmes last week from the closer role, has touted multiple “options” he’s comfortable with closing, it should shock no one if Weaver gets a shot at winning the job.

Royals lefthander Cole Ragans, who came in 11-9 with a 3.33 ERA, allowed two runs and three hits over six mostly dominant innings, his lone mistake a sixth-inning curveball Soto hit out for his 39th homer.

Ragans allowed those two runs, three hits and two walks, striking out seven.

The Soto homer, which came moments after the rightfielder caused a bit of panic for the crowd by fouling a ball off the top of his right foot and falling to one knee in obvious pain, gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

“A little rope-a-dope,” Boone said with a smile. “Got up off the mat and put one in the seats.”

Soto, who stayed on one knee for nearly two minutes, said he “100%” still felt pain upon stepping back into the batter’s box before crushing a 2-and-2 curveball 402 feet to right for the one-run lead.

“It was a lot of pain,” Soto said. “But at the end of the day, I tried to focus on the at-bat.”

The blast gave Soto 100 RBIs, which gave the Yankees two teammates with 100-RBI seasons for the first time since 2011 when Curtis Granderson (119), Robinson Cano (118) and Mark Teixeira (111) accomplished the feat. Aaron Judge, who has not homered in 15 straight games to remain at an MLB-leading 51 homers - that ties the longest homerless streak of his career -- leads the majors with 126 RBIs.

But Holmes couldn’t hold the 2-1 lead in the seventh, allowing the Royals to tie it for his MLB-leading 12th blown save.

Luis Gil, though not as sharp as he had been most of the season, continued making a strong case to be a member of the postseason rotation. He allowed one run, five hits and two walks over five innings in which he struck out five, lowering his ERA to 3.18.

The one run he allowed came on a full-count 95-mph fastball Gil said “cut” on him, a pitch the lefty-swinging Michael Massey planted into the seats in right, his 13th homer making it 1-0.

It stayed that way until Soto pulled himself up off the dirt and delivered a homer that had all the theatrics of October.

“When you saw him get up,” Chisholm said of Soto. “The way he was looking around, you could see in his eyes, he was about to do something special.”