Walks have Royals on the brink of elimination vs. Yankees

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals have walked themselves to the brink of postseason elimination.

The Yankees will try to push them over the edge Thursday night.

Yes, the big-swinging, homer-happy Yankees are within a game of reaching the American League Championship Series for the second time in three years thanks in large part to the free passes they have been getting from Kansas City pitching.

Nine in a Game 3 victory Wednesday night. A staggering 22 walks through the first three games of the series.

“That's who we are. That's our DNA. That's what we try to do,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “From day one in spring training, that's what we talk about, and these guys go out and live that. It's like, we haven't really broke through in a huge way yet, but we're giving ourselves opportunities against a really good pitching staff.”

Ninety feet at a time.

Of course, it was Giancarlo Stanton's mammoth homer in the eighth inning on Wednesday night that broke up a battle of the bullpens and propelled New York to a 3-2 victory at Kauffman Stadium. But one of the other Yankees runs came after a walk by Juan Soto, who came all the way around to score from first on Stanton's double earlier in the game.

“I tried to make quality pitches and some just got off the edge," said Royals starter Seth Lugo, who walked four in five innings. "Some I thought were there and some weren’t, but didn’t give in and I tried to make sure I kept the ball off the barrel.”

However, the erratic pitching from the Royals' usually pinpoint staff has been a problem all series

In the opener Saturday night in New York, Kansas City led three times in a wildly swinging game, only to watch each evaporate as they issued eight walks in a 6-5 loss — tying a season-high, until it was surpassed with nine walks Wednesday night.

Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber issued bases-loaded walks to Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe in the fifth inning that night, which allowed the Yankees to take a 5-4 lead. It was the first time the Yankees drew two bases-loaded walks in a playoff game since Bullet Joe Bush and Joe Dugan against the New York Giants’ Rosy Ryan in Game 6 of the 1923 World Series.

Gleyber Torres has five walks through the first three games of the series. Volpe has four.

“You've got to tip your cap to them,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro, whose team walked 472 batters during the regular season, putting it squarely among the best third of pitching staffs in the majors. “They’re not chasing, they’re not expanding, but we also have to do a better job of limiting those for sure.”

It's not just what the Royals are doing — the Yankees have been earning all those walks.

During the regular season against Kansas City, they walked seven times in a 10-4 win at Yankee Stadium in early September. While the aptly named Bronx Bombers led the majors with 237 home runs, they also led in walks with 672 — a full 70 more than the Dodgers, who were No. 2 in the majors.

That helped New York produce the third-best on-base percentage and the third-most runs scored.

So even though MVP front-runner Aaron Judge is mired in another 1-for-11 postseason slump, and the Yankees have struggled to hit up and down the lineup — four hits in all Wednesday night — they are still within sight of another ALCS appearance.

“I’ve been really pleased up and down with the quality of the at-bats,” Boone said. “You’re not always going to get a hit, you’re not always going to get a result, but I feel like the quality of the at-bat has been there.”

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