The Kansas City Royals left all of their emotions on the field in Thursday’s Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.
Showing the resiliency that defined their 2024 season, the Royals battled — figuratively and nearly literally — before losing 3-1 to the New York Yankees.
The Yankees’ victory eliminated the Royals three wins to one in the best-of-five ALDS. New York advances to the American League Championship Series against the winner of the Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Guardians ALDS.
“Really proud of what they’ve done, and it stings, but that’s OK,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s OK to have it sting, because this isn’t where we want our season to end.”
The Royals got a solid start in Game 4 from veteran right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha . And the KC bullpen helped keep the later innings manageable as the Royals came up with three double plays.
Everything was set up to force a decisive Game 5 in New York on Saturday. But the Royals’ offense never really materialized against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and the New York bullpen.
“Just tough. It’s not what you want,” Witt said. “That’s really it. Just feels like you let a lot of people down whenever you do things like this. But it’s part of the game and kind of something that will light a torch in you and leave a bad taste for the future.
“Now, for Kansas City Royals baseball, this is what we want.”
The Royals finished the 2024 regular season 86-76. They won three postseason games — sweeping the Baltimore Orioles in an AL Wild Card Series — and brought playoff baseball back to Kansas City for the first time since 2015.
Their bats just failed them at the worst time. The Royals scored their lone run in the sixth inning on Vinnie Pasquantino’s double. Superstar Bobby Witt Jr., who went 1-for-4 Thursday, also reached on a single.
The Royals finished 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.
“This is a tough game,” Quatraro said. “Hitting is a tough game, and you miss it by a fraction of an inch and you’re looking at a fly ball versus a homer or a lineout or a groundout instead of a line drive.”
Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees’ Game 3 hero , drove in a pivotal run in the sixth inning. Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto drove in the Yankees’ other runs.
The Royals, meanwhile, finished with six hits — three by right fielder Tommy Pham — but scored a total of just three runs in their final 18 innings.
Missed previous games of the series?
Game 1: Royals drop ALDS series opener 6-5 to Yankees
Game 2: Salvador Perez propels Royals to 4-2 victory at Yankee Stadium
Game 3: Royals yield nine walks as Yankees take commanding ALDS lead
Here are more notable aspects of Thursday’s ALDS Game 4:
Benches clear in sixth inning
Tensions boiled over during the sixth inning.
Throughout the series, Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew the ire of Royals fans for some recent postgame comments he’d made.
Chisholm had said the Royals got “lucky” in winning Game 2. And that apparently didn’t sit well with some Royals, including infielder Maikel Garcia.
The simmering tension reached a boiling point when Garcia reached on a leadoff single against Cole in the sixth. He was thrown out at second base when Michael Massey grounded into a double play.
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe put the tag on Garcia. As Garcia got up, Chisholm had words for him. The players were separated, but teammates from both benches and bullpens ran onto the field before order was restored.
“Yeah, Volpe had the ball, blocked the bag. Maikel probably didn’t care for that too much, and it got a little chippy,” Quatraro said.
Garcia offered his viewpoint after the game.
“I don’t have anything against (Chisholm),” Garcia said via a translator. “I just saw that he said something. I don’t know what he said. I just saw that he did.”
There were no ejections and play continued not long after.
Tommy Pham turns in three-hit game
Pham added to his his sparkling career résumé against Cole with three hits off the Yankees’ Thursday evening starter.
Pham singled in three consecutive at-bats. With two outs in the seventh inning, he drilled a 77.9 mph knuckle-curve through the infield. The hit registered a 100.9 mph exit velocity off the bat.
“Tommy had a heck of a night at the plate,” Quatraro said.
Pham now has 16 hits (five in the postseason) in his career against Cole.
Royals just miss two home runs
A lot will be made of the Royals’ struggles at the plate in this series . They couldn’t string together enough hits to break through in Game 4.
But they were so close.
In the fifth inning, MJ Melendez nearly connected for a solo home run. The ball traveled 349 feet but landed right in the glove of Yankees outfielder Juan Soto.
“There were some good swings in there, some good swings throughout, but clearly not enough to string things together against Cole,” Quatraro said.
Two innings later, Kyle Isbel hit a ball a long way before it met the same fate. Isbel’s deep shot took Soto to the edge of the right-field fence.
For a moment, it looked like the Royals might tie the game. But Soto was there to make the catch yet again.
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