On the heels of a brutal 4-10 skid that dropped them 5.5 games back of the Rays for first place in the AL East, the Yankees pulled consecutive victories out of a hat, winning both in the ninth. The latter win came yesterday against the Royals, with embattled shortstop Anthony Volpe lining a two-run single off closer Lucas Erceg to flip a deficit into a lead.
With a chance to win the three-game set today, the Yankees will hand the ball to Cam Schlittler. Despite an array of more decorated arms in the team’s rotation, it’s Schlittler who’s pitched like the team’s ace, recording an MLB-best 1.50 ERA through 11 starts while shooting to the top of most AL Cy Young odds boards. His last time out, the 25-year-old allowed more than one earned run for the first time in over a month, holding the Blue Jays to two over six innings while taking his second loss of the season. Schlittler throws some form of fastball more than 90 percent of the time, and for good reason; opponents are hitting below the Mendoza line against each of his four-seamer, his cutter, and his sinker.
He’s lined up to face Bailey Falter. The southpaw struggled upon joining the Royals at last year’s Trade Deadline and began 2026 in the bullpen. After allowing five runs in his first two outings, though, he was sent down to Triple-A Omaha, where he pitched well enough to get recalled in mid-May. Falter made his first start of the year last Tuesday, going just two innings to kick off a bullpen game. Expect something similar today, since he hasn’t thrown as many as 50 pitches all year and is not stretched out to handle a starter’s workload. Falter pitches off his four-seamer, which he’s thrown more than 60 percent of the time and against which opponents are hitting a brutal .500.
Kansas City will run out the same lineup for the fourth game in a row (outside of swapping Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen between catcher and DH). It’s a group that’s struggled to get going, scoring the sixth-fewest runs in baseball. Against the lefty Falter, the Yankees will start Amed Rosario at third, while Volpe gets the nod over José Caballero at short. Ben Rice, who’s just 5-for-37 of late, will drop to fifth for the first time since April 18th. He’s at DH with the lefty-mashing Paul Goldschmidt at first base and cleanup.
How to watch:
Location: Kauffman Stadium — Kansas City, MO
First pitch: 7:40 pm EDT
TV Broadcast: YES Network | Royals.TV
Radio Broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | 96.5 The Fan, Royals Radio Network (KC)
Online Stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)
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