NEW YORK — Salvador Perez homered first in the fourth inning to spark a four-run rally against Carlos Rodón, and the Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Yankees 4-2 on Monday night to even their AL Division Series at one game apiece to bring.
Four relievers kept New York in check after an inconsistent Cole Ragans lasted four innings. Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia singled in runs for the Royals.
Garcia, moved from ninth to first in Kansas City’s batting order, had four hits.
Game 3 in the best-of-five playoff is Wednesday night in Kansas City, the Royals’ first home game since the 2015 World Series.
“It’s basically a brand new series when we get to the K,” Ragans said, referring to Kauffman Stadium.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 1 for 3 with an infield single and is 1 for 7 with four strikeouts in the series. Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr., projected to finish second to Judge in the AL MVP voting, was 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and fell to 0 for 10 in the series.
All four Division Series opened 1-1 for the first time since the start of play in 1995.
Giancarlo Stanton put the Yankees ahead with an RBI single in the third, but New York went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and is 3-for-19 in the two games.
“They made their pitches when they needed to,” Judge said. “We have to get through these situations to open it up a little bit.”
Ragans allowed just one run and three hits, striking out five and walking four. Winning pitcher Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber each followed with a hitless inning before Kris Bubic pitched two scoreless innings. Lucas Erceg scored the ninth for his third save this postseason.
Erceg gave up a leadoff homer to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a two-out single by Jon Berti, but retired Gleyber Torres on a grounder to end it with slugger Juan Soto on deck. Chisholm’s home run was the first off Erceg since June 12, when he pitched for Oakland.
Perez, at 34 the only remaining Royals player from their 2015 championship team, tied the score when he drove a 2-0 slider into the left field seats. The nine-time All-Star went 12 for 26 (.462) with three home runs off Rodón, a longtime AL Central rival while pitching for the Chicago White Sox.
“He got behind him and from that point on started making some mistakes with his secondary pitches, right in the heart of the plate,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Yuli Gurriel singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Pham’s one-out single for a 2-1 lead, sparking cheers from NFL fans during the Kansas City Chiefs’ home game against New Orleans at Arrowhead Stadium . Pham stole second base and scored on a two-out single by Hampson.
Garcia greeted Ian Hamilton with an RBI single that gave the Royals a 4-1 lead.
Rodón, lined up to pitch a potential Game 5, gave up four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Twenty-four of the 32 home runs he has allowed this season have been solo shots.
“You just have to be better with those pitches,” Rodón said. “Just treat them better and go to better places.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (left flexor strain) stepped forward while playing catch Sunday, Boone said.
NEXT
Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) will make his first postseason start on Wednesday. He was 0-2 with an 11.75 ERA in three relief appearances during the 2022 playoffs.
Seth Lugo (16-9, 3:00) is scheduled to play for the Royals. He struck out ten in seven three-hit innings in a 5–0 win at Yankee Stadium on September 10..
