Ryan McMahon's game-winning homer lifts Yankees to 4-2 win over Royals

· Yahoo Sports

Ryan McMahon became the unlikeliset of heroes as his two-run homer lifted the Yankees to a 4-2 win over the Royals on Friday night in the Bronx.

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McMahon entered Friday's game with just five hits on the season, all singles. He also didn't start, with manager Aaron Boone opting to go with the more consistent Amed Rosario. 

Subbing in for defense in the eighth, McMahon came up with a runner on and two out with the game tied. The left-hander took a changeup down in the zone the other way for an opposite-field blast. 

Here are the takeaways....

-Cam Schlittler had his good stuff on Friday. After allowing three runs in his last start, which was also his worst of the season, the young right-hander was filling up the zone and overwhelming the Royals hitters with his fastball that hit 99 and sat around 97. 

He was perfect through 3.2 innings before Vinnie Pasquantino lined an opposite-field single.

Schlittler was cruising until the sixth. He walked Maikel Garcia with one out before Bobby Witt Jr. put a charge into one that went to deep center. Trent Grisham seemed to have a bead on it, but the ball hit the heels of his glove for a two-base error. Schlittler limited the damage, allowing an unearned run on a groundout before striking out Salvador Perez to get out of the inning with a 2-1 lead. 

Schlittler would start the seventh, but a leadoff walk and single forced him out of the game, and Brent Headrick was the first arm out of the bullpen. Headrick got a strikeout, pinch-hitter Jonathan India to fly out on a nifty backwards catch by Ben Rice in foul territory, and -- after a throwing error on a pickoff attempt at second -- got Starling Marte to ground out softly to get out of the inning and put an end to Schlittler's line.

Schlittler tossed 93 pitches (63 strikes) across six-plus innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits, two walks, while striking out six. 

-The Yankees entered the game second in the majors in PA/BB (8.18) and pitches per plate appearances (4.08), but had a plan to be aggressive against Michael Wacha early, with three of the first four batters swinging on the first pitch. Aaron Judge picked up a one-out double but was stranded by Cody Bellinger (strikeout) and Giancarlo Stanton (popout). 

That extended to 6 of the first 8 batters, but they didn't lead to positive results until the fourth inning. Bellinger hit a leadoff bloop single and two batters later, Ben Rice went down and launched a changeup down in the zone over the short porch in right to put the Yankees up 2-0. On a windy night in the Bronx, with hard-hit balls dying in the outfield, Rice's 103.3 mph laser cut through the wind. 

-The Yankees threatened in the fifth after Jose Caballero led off with a walk and moved to second on a groundout. Caballero stole third, catching the Royals third baseman sleeping. Judge walked and stole second without a throw, but Bellinger flew out to center as the Royals got out of the jam.

New York had another chance in the seventh with two runners on and two outs for Judge. But Judge grounded out to third. The Yankees were 0-for-5 with RISP and left six runners on base. 

-After Headrick, Camillo Doval was called on to pitch the eighth. After getting the first two out, Pasquantino took a Doval sinker deep to right field to tie the game at 2-2. It was the same spot that Rice took Wacha deep.

David Bednar came on for the save in the ninth and, after walking the leadoff hitter, got the next three batters in order to lock down the win. 

-Amed Rosario, starting against a right-hander instead of McMahon, went 0-for-3 but had two of the top five hardest hit balls in the game according to StatCast. 

McMahon would get an at-bat with the game tied 

-The Yankees entered Friday with 25 stolen bases, the most in the AL and tied with Miami for the second-most in the majors. They added to that total with two more swipes. Caballero logged his ninth stolen base of the season, which now puts him in first in the American League. 

 

Game MVP: Ryan McMahon

 

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Royals play the middle of their three-game series on Saturday afternoon.

First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m.

Will Warren (1-0, 2.45 ERA) will take the mound while Noah Cameron (1-0, 3.94 ERA) opposed him for Kansas City.

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