1. The Yankees didn’t score four runs against the Royals on Thursday, but they still won. The Yankees beat the Royals 1-0 for their fourth 1-0 win of the season. As I wrote after Monday’s win, since the start of last season the Yankees seem to always do enough to beat the Royals. Whether it’s winning a blowout game, needing a late-game big hit or holding on for a 1-0 win, I love when the Yankees play the Royals.
2. It was always going to be hard for the Yankees to score on Thursday with Seth Lugo on the mound, but Aaron Boone made things harder by keeping Aaron Judge out of the lineup along with Jazz Chisholm, Austin Wells and DJ LeMahieu. It was the first game Judge didn’t start this season. I “get” he can’t play every day, but I also don’t really get it. He’s having the best offensive season in the history of baseball. Maybe don’t give him a day off, considering there’s no proof random days off keep anyone healthy over the long haul.
3. The Yankees used a 7-8-9 of J.C. Escarra, Pablo Reyes and Oswald Peraza, which is about as bad as it gets for a 7 through 9 in the majors. But Escarra had two of the Yankees’ five hits and their only extra-base hit, and Reyes scored the only run of the game. (Thursday ended up being the only game this season Reyes has started and completed.) You can’t predict baseball.
4. I was shocked when Reyes led off the eighth with a single against Lucas Erceg. It’s rare someone of Reyes’ ability beats someone of Erceg’s ability, but I guess anyone with a bat in their hand is truly dangerous. I figured Boone would use Judge to hit for Reyes, but he didn’t, and instead had Judge hit for Peraza after Reyes reached. Judge struck out on a 3-2 pitch clearly outside the zone to fall to 1-for-18 as a pinch hitter in his career.
5. After Judge struck out, Trent Grisham grounded out to move Reyes to second and Erceg pitched around Ben Rice to put two on with two outs. Paul Goldschmidt came up and hit a line drive to Vinnie Pasquantino at first and the ball went off Pasquantino’s outstretched glove and landed behind first. Reyes raced around third and tried to stop halfway down the line, but stumbled. When he saw Pasquantino try to make the out at first rather than throw home, Reyes then took off for home. Erceg threw home on a hop, but it wasn’t handled and Reyes slid in headfirst safely to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
“I saw Pablo stop halfway and then I was like, ‘Oh, no,” Boone said. “And then we’re still able to score, so, whew, we’ll take it.”
6. Reyes is going to be designated for assignment when Giancarlo Stanton returns, which could be as early as Friday. If Friday was the last game Reyes plays in as a Yankee, we can remember it as the Pablo Reyes Game.
“Pablo juked him out, I think,” Will Warren said. “We were all pumped … that changed the game.”
7. It did change the game because it was the only run scored in the game. Warren turned in his best start (5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) in more than three weeks, pitching around a 28-minute rain delay. Warren got out of a first-and-second-no-out jam in the second inning and pitched around a one-out triple in the fifth.
8. The Yankees own the Royals. They swept the six-game season series, outscoring them 29-11. The Yankees are 14-3 against the Royals since the start of last season. If the Royals aren’t at the top of every Yankees fans’ I Hope the Yankees Play This Team in the Postseason list, they should be.
9. Boone made a lot of odd choices in the game, but it worked out. Not pinch hitting for Reyes worked out. Using Tim Hill for the seventh and a two-righty lane was risky, but worked out. Not going back to Jonathan Loaisiga after an eight-pitch inning against the Royals 2-3-4 hitters was risky given Devin Williams being an unknown from game to game, but it worked out. He gave Judge a day off and gave Wells and LeMahieu days off and kept Chisholm out of the lineup, but it worked out. It all worked out because the Royals are an offensive disaster. It’s why the Kauffman Stadium crowd continues to give Jac Cagliannone standing ovations when he comes to bat as they hope and pray and try to will him to be an important piece of an offense that currently has three pieces at most.
10. For the second straight weekend the Yankees will play the Red Sox. I expect the pitching to be much better than this weekend than it was last weekend, for both teams that is. Ryan Yarbrough will go on Friday, Carlos Rodon on Saturday and Max Fried on Sunday, so the Red Sox will be seeing the Yankees’ best starter this weekend after missing him last week. Following the disappointment of last weekend’s series (which was made up for by sweeping the Royals), I expect the Yankees to win this series.
Last modified: Jun 13, 2025
