Giancarlo Stanton hits a homer in the 8th and the Yankees win Game 3

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Giancarlo Stanton scored an decisive eighth-inning run in the bullpen and the New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 3 of the AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.

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Stanton finished the game with three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years. The Yankees, who will turn to six-time All-Star pitcher Gerrit Cole on Thursday night with a chance to win the American League Series championship.

The Royals used four players before Kris Bubic took over with the eighth. The left-hander struck out Austin Wells, and Stanton hit a 3-1 shot nearly 420 feet to left to give New York the lead.

The Royals tried to answer Luke Weaver in the bottom half, scoring Bobby Witt Jr.'s first hit of the series. and a double single by franchise stalwart Salvador Perez. Weaver recovered to fly out Yuli Gurriel and end the threat, and he also dealt a ninth save to go 4 1/3 scoreless innings in the New York bullpen.

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The Yankees won despite another frustrating night of the postseason for MVP favorite Aaron Judge. He went 0-for-4 with a walk and is now 1-for-11 and has just one home run in three games against the Royals.

It helped that the mighty Yankees had nine walks on Wednesday night, giving them 22 in the series.

It was the first playoff game at K Stadium in 3,268 days, since the Royals defeated the Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series. A few days later, they won their first title in 30 years in New York.

Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer was on hand to throw out the first pitch in front of a crowd that included Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Yankees had some good runs against Seth Lugo's staggering nine pitches, but had nothing to show for it early on.

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Juan Soto singled to center in the first, which would have been a 17-pitch homer. He was followed by a liner caught by Witt on a short stop that had an exit velocity of 180 km/h. And in the third, Gleyber Torres hit a fly ball to right field, moments after the review confirmed that his would-be RBI single at the line was fouled.

The Yankees broke through in the fourth quarter on Stanton's double. Soto was first and scored, although he might have been out of the game if Witt had a better shot at the relay. And in the fifth, Soto added a sacrifice fly loaded with bases.

The Royals responded with two goals in the fifth set. Kyle Isbel got them on the board with a double-out to left, and Michael Massey ripped a sinking ball that somehow missed Soto's glove to right for an RBI triple.

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Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt was penalized for both runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. Lugo scored five goals for Kansas City, allowing two goals and giving up four against a team that led the league in free pass percentage this season.

NEXT

Yankees: Cole (8-5, 3.41 ERA) returns to the mound on Thursday night. He allowed four runs – three earned – over five innings in Saturday's opener, but took no decision in New York's 6-5 win.

Royals: RHP Michael Wacha (13-8, 3.35 ERA) will face Cole again on Saturday after just four innings in the bullpen. He allowed three runs but was long gone by the time the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the seventh.

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