Gerrit Cole, Yankees eliminate Royals, hope for offensive 'break through' in ALCS

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Gerrit Cole's nosediving curveballs and beaming fastballs devastated the Kansas City Royals to help the New York Yankees advance to the ALCS, where they hope a timely offensive awakening triggers a World Series berth.

Cole allowed six hits and one run over seven innings to fuel the Yankees' 3-1 win over the Royals in Game 4 of the ALDS on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo.

The top-seeded Yankees, who won the best-of-five game series 3-1, will face the No. 2 Cleveland Guardians or No. 6 Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. The Guardians and Tigers are tied 2-2 in their ALDS.

"There is so much baseball left," Cole told reporters. "We are obviously confident. We are focused. We are trying to improve the brand of baseball we're playing as we continue to get deeper into October."

The Yankees are set to appear in the ALCS for the 15th time in 29 years. They advanced to the World Series in seven of their previous 14 trips and won five titles over that span.

Right fielder Juan Soto , designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton and second baseman Gleyber Torres drove in the Yankees' runs with RBI singles in Thursday's ALDS finale. Relief pitchers Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver did not allow a hit or walk over the final two innings, securing the Yankees' ticket to the ALCS.

Unlike the regular season, when the Yankees led MLB with 237 home runs and 672 walks and topped the American League with a .333 on-base percentage, .762 on-base plus slugging percentage, 815 runs scored and 782 RBIs, they leaned on Cole and their pitching staff a bit more in their first postseason series.

Yankees batting averages dropped from .248 in the regular season to .220. Yankees pitchers posted a team ERA of 3.74 and allowed 1.24 walks and hits allowed per innings pitched (WHIP) in the regular season. They logged a 2.50 ERA and 1.08 WHIP this postseason.

"We played a really good-looking brand of baseball in this series," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Even though we didn't score a ton of runs, I felt like we had a lot of tough, heavy at-bats that we like to have. Hopefully we break through with some more runs next series."

Star outfielder Aaron Judge , who led MLB with 58 home runs, a .458 OBP, .701 slugging percentage and 1.159 OPS, hit just .154 (2 for 13) without a home run through his first four playoff games.

He entered Thursday's game with just 1 hit over his first 11 at-bats. His sixth-inning double in Game 4 was his first extra-base hit of the series.

"It felt good," Judge said. "It's good getting results. I'll take four bloop singles at this point. It's just part of it. You mishit a couple balls. Don't worry about it. Focus on the plan. ... I know it's been a while, but I'm just glad to get something going."

Soto, who hit 41 homers in the regular season, hit for nearly the same average, but also didn't homer in the ALDS. Like Judge, he recorded just one extra-base hit.

"I always like our chances," Judge said of the Yankees' outlook. "I'm always betting on our guys. There is something special here."

The Guardians, who beat the Tigers 5-4 to tie the other ALDS on Thursday, will host the finale at 8:08 p.m. EDT Saturday in Cleveland.

Game 5 of an NLDS between the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers and No. 4 San Diego Padres will be at 8:08 p.m. Friday in Los Angeles. The winner of that series will host the No. 6 New York Mets on Sunday in Game 1 of the NLCS.