Yankees' five-run inning the difference in 6-3 win over Royals

Clarke Schmidt threw six scoreless innings and the Yankees used a five-run inning to defeat the Royals, 6-3, on Wednesday night in Kansas City.

Here are the takeaways…

-Royals LHP Kris Bubic came into Wednesday’s game leading MLB with his 1.43 ERA, so the Yankees had to take advantage of any opportunities to score runs and they did in the second inning. Cody Bellinger led off with a triple and after a Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk, Anthony Volpe grounded into a fielder’s choice, beating out a double play attempt to drive in Bellinger. A few batters later, Austin Wells drove in Volpe with a double to right-center. Paul Goldschmidt followed with a two-run single and Ben Rice drove in Goldschmidt — who took second on the throw home — to push the Yankees’ lead to 5-0.

Bubic allowed a season-high five runs in that 41-pitch second inning, but the left-hander settled down afterward, pitching into the fifth inning before he was pulled after just 4.1 innings pitched.

-Schmidt was on the bump for the Yankees and outpitched Bubic. The young right-hander shut out the Royals, twirling his breaking stuff for five strikeouts and keeping the KC batters off balance.

He was also helped by the defense behind him, especially Trent Grisham, who made an incredible diving catch and threw out Maikel Garcia at second, trying to stretch a single to a double.

Otherwise, Schmidt cruised through the Royals lineup. Schmidt threw 91 pitches (54 strikes) across six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out seven batters.

-The combination of Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz got the Yanks into the ninth but Mark Leiter Jr. had a tough ninth but wasn’t helped out by his defense. Oswald Peraza called off Wells on a pop-up in the infield and couldn’t grab it, and then Salvador Perez launched a two-run homer to end the shutout. After a groundout, the Royals hit back-to-back singles to drive in another run, the second hit coming on a grounder that hit Leiter Jr. and the reliever threw away.

Aaron Boone was forced to bring in Devin Williams to try and close this game. Williams struck out Mark Canha swinging on his airbender changeup and got Jonathan India to ground out to end the game.

-The Yankees’ offense outside of the second couldn’t push across any runs until Aaron Judge came up in the seventh. To lead off, Judge launched a 99 mph fastball the opposite way 413 feet over the right-center field wall. Judge finished 1-for-4 and is now hitting .394 and is the second player (Cal Raleigh) to reach 25 homers this season and is currently on pace for 61 home runs.

Chisholm went 0-for-1 with two walks but was pulled in the fifth inning for Peraza. The Yankees announced Chisholm left with left groin tightness.

Game MVP: Clarke Schmidt

Schmidt was dominant, the Royals couldn’t get any rally going, allowing the Yankees offense to get to Bubic and the Royals pitching.

Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees and Royals complete their three-game on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7:40 p.m.

Will Warren (4-3, 5.34 ERA) will take the mound while the Royals will send Seth Lugo (3-5, 3.46 ERA) to the bump.

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