KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After the Yankees put another player on the injured list, they went out and won another game.
They beat the Royals, 5-2, Wednesday on a day in which the heat index soared well over 100 degrees at Kauffman Field.
The Yankees scored three runs in the first and used six pitchers to win their seventh game in their last nine, as they battle for a playoff spot with 20 players shelved.
And once again, it didn’t come easy, as the Royals brought the potential tying run to the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a hit by pitch and an error before the struggling Zack Britton got pinch-hitter Carlos Santana to hit into a game-ending double play.
Clay Holmes became the latest Yankee to be shelved, placed on the COVID-IL.
The Yankees got off to a fast start, as DJ LeMahieu led off with a walk and the Yankees loaded the bases with a lined single to center by Aaron Judge and a Joey Gallo walk.
Luke Voit came through with a two-run single to right and Rougned Odor drove in another run with a single to left to make it 3-0.
Lucas Luetge, used as an opener, gave a run back in the bottom of the inning, as the pesky Whit Merrifield singled to start the inning, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Salvador Perez groundout.
Tyler Wade sparked a two-run fourth with a leadoff double, scoring on a LeMahieu single. And LeMahieu came around to score on another hit by Judge.
Albert Abreu pitched well in relief of Luetge, allowing just a run in 2 ¹/₃ innings.
Left-hander Joely Rodriguez finished the fifth before Chad Green tossed two scoreless innings, striking out three.
Jonathan Loaisiga pitched the eighth and Britton, in the midst of his worst stretch in years, closed it in the ninth for the save.
