Yankees hold on for DH sweep of Royals, win 7th straight

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This article was published 25/05/2019 (2352 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Chance Adams didn’t get to Kauffman Stadium on Saturday until midway through the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

He had an early flight out of Syracuse, New York, then caught a connecting flight in Chicago before finally getting to the stadium around 1 p.m.

Adams, called up as the 26th player for the New York Yankees, took advantage of his opportunity in the nightcap.

Adams (1-0) threw four innings to earn his first major league victory as the Yankees held on to beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 Saturday night, completing a sweep of a doubleheader for their seventh straight win.

After Chad Green threw one inning as the Yankees’ opener, Adams allowed three runs and five hits, with a couple of misplayed balls in the outfield leading to two runs in the fourth inning.

“I’m just going out there and trying to make my pitches and give the team a chance to win, but I feel good about my performance,” Adams said.

Adams threw three shutout innings in his first appearance this season on May 19 against Tampa Bay to earn his first career save.

“Hopefully, it’s something that’s a building block for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s been throwing the ball well in Triple-A, you can tell he’s pitching with more confidence up here. He’ll be back and he’ll help us at some point this year, especially if he continues to throw the ball like that.”

Austin Romine and Cameron Maybin, the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the lineup, each drove in two in New York’s five-run second inning.

“It’s been like that much of the year for us, we’ve gotten contributions up and down the lineup,” Boone said. “We’ve hit guys in different spots a lot and it’s kind of come from a different place on most nights and we needed all of it.”

Romine finished with three hits and Maybin also had an RBI single in the third as New York won both games after severe thunderstorms postponed Friday night’s contest.

Luke Voit hit a go-ahead home in the seventh inning and Thairo Estrada added a two-run double in the eighth inning of the opener to power the Yankees to a 7-3 victory.

Jonathan Holder, Tommy Kahnle, Zach Britton and Aroldis Chapman each threw one inning in relief to close out the win in the second game. Chapman allowed a run on a walk, error and sacrifice fly, but was still able to notch his 250th career save, and 14th this season.

“I’m excited about it,” Chapman said. “My objective and desire is to have many, many more, but you have to be excited about this night and excited for the number it is.”

The Yankees jumped all over Royals starter Jorge Lopez (0-6) in the second inning. The first seven batters all reached base, scoring five runs along the way. DJ LeMahieu capped the scoring in the inning with an RBI single, chasing Lopez from the game after facing just 10 batters.

The Royals’ bullpen held the Yankees down after the big second inning, allowing one run and four hits in eight innings of work.

“It was pretty special to be a part of that,” said Glenn Sparkman, who threw 3 1/3 innings.

Hunter Dozier doubled twice after going hitless in the opener, driving in Adalberto Mondesi in the first inning and coming around to score on Jorge Soler’s double in the fourth inning.

J.A. Happ (4-3) threw six strong innings in the opener, striking out 10. He allowed only a single hit until a familiar problem showed up in the sixth when Whit Merrifield hit a tying, three-run homer. It was the 14th homer Happ has allowed, tied for second most in the majors.

But unlike past home runs, Happ threw a good pitch, and Merrifield simply put a good swing on the ball.

“You tip your cap. He hit a ball at his shoulders,” Happ said.

Voit quickly restored the Yankees’ lead when he connected off Scott Barlow (1-1) for a 470-foot home run and New York’s bullpen closed out the win.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m hitting, Gary (Sanchez), Gleyber (Torres), whoever. Everybody calls us the Baby Bombers, so I feel like someone will hit a home run or get a big hit,” Voit said.

Voit grew up near St. Louis, was drafted by the Royals out of high school, went to Missouri State and made his major league debut with the Cardinals.

Mondesi stole his major league-best 18th base in the opener.

Barlow had his second straight shaky outing for the Royals. His ERA sat at 2.01 after a scoreless outing against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, but got tagged for four runs in 1 2/3 innings on Wednesday in St. Louis and gave up four more runs Saturday in 1 1/3 innings.

“We gave up six runs on three hanging sliders today and Barlow threw two of them,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

CONSECUTIVE TWINBILLS

The Royals were back in action for the first time since playing a doubleheader against St. Louis on Wednesday, which also was caused by stormy weather. Kansas City is playing consecutive doubleheaders for just the eighth time in franchise history, and first time since Aug. 13-14, 1983. It’s just the second time Kansas City has played consecutive doubleheaders against two different opponents, the other time occurring on April 19 and 22, 1972, against Oakland and the Chicago White Sox.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: SS Didi Gregorius, recovering from Tommy John surgery last October, went 0 for 3 and played seven errorless innings at Bradenton in his first injury rehabilitation game for Class A Tampa.

ROSTER MOVES

Royals: Kansas City recalled LHP Brian Flynn from Triple-A Omaha and optioned RHP Richard Lovelady. Lovelady remained with the team as the 26th player for the second game. Flynn hasn’t pitched in the majors yet this season after spraining the UCL in his throwing arm late in spring training.

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UP NEXT

The Royals and Yankees will close out their three-game set on Sunday.

Royals LHP Danny Duffy (3-1) will try for his fourth straight win in the finale of the three-game series Sunday. RHP Domingo German (9-1) will pitch for New York, seeking his major league-best 10th win.

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