By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals held the lead for a moment, but let it slip away in a big sixth inning for the New York Yankees, falling 4-2 on Tuesday night in the Bronx.
The Royals scored both runs in the third inning, first getting the first home run of the season from MJ Melendez to lead off the inning, a 429 foot blast to center field. Maikel Garcia singled later in the inning, as was driven in one batter later on a double by Bobby Witt Jr, his seventh of the season, to give Kansas City the 2-0 lead.
And that was a lead Kansas City held until the sixth inning. After Aaron Judge led the inning off with a single, Royals starter Michael Wacha struck out Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt before running into trouble. Back to back walks to Jazz Chisolm Jr and Anthony Volpe, loading the bases, prompted a pitching change from manager Matt Quatraro, who brought on Angel Zerpa, but Zerpa walked Austin Wells to bring in a run in his first at bat. After that, the next batter Jasson Domínguez hit a bases clearing double, for the only runs the Yankees needed to win the game.
Five different Royals had one hit each in the losing effort. Wacha took the loss, falling to 0-3 on the season, giving up three runs on four hits, striking out four batters and walking two. Zerpa blew his second save, giving up one run on one hit, walking one and striking out one.
Kansas City and New York wrap up their series tomorrow. Kris Bubic will start for the Royals against Clarke Schmidt making his season debut for the Yankees. First pitch is at 6:05pm, pregame coverage starts at 5:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.