Yankees vs. Royals score: Giancarlo Stanton sends New York to ALCS for fourth time in eight years

Yankees win, advance to ALCS

New York wins 3-1. The Yankees will advance to play for the pennant against the winner of Saturday's Tigers-Guardians contest in Cleveland.

The Royals are down to their final out.

Onto the ninth

It'll be Pasquantino, Salvador Perez and Gurriel for the Royals against Luke Weaver.

Ninth inning time. Sam Long on the bump for Kansas City against Anthony Volpe.

The most likely outcome here is a Yankees win, which means this wouldn't matter, but it's hard to figure that pinch runner. He didn't even steal. Chisholm was in a lefty-lefty matchup. There were two outs. And now Stanton is done for the game. File that away in case the Royals tie the game. 

An interesting note if the Royals come back: Giancarlo Stanton is out of the game. With two outs, the Yankees have pinch run Duke Ellis for Stanton.

Yankees looking to tack on 

Aaron Judge walked, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. There are two outs. The count was 3-1 to Giancarlo Stanton and the Royals elected to just intentionally walk him, so runners are at the corners for Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the Royals go to the bullpen to bring in Sam Long. 

Onto the eighth

Kyle Isbel flies out to the wall in right field. That would've been a game-tying shot and the broadcast has noted that the wind is blowing in from right field. Rough luck for the Royals. It remains 3-1 Yankees.

Gerrit Cole has thrown 87 pitches through seven innings of work. Nearly all the damage against him has been done in either the sixth inning or by Tommy Pham. 

Pham singles again

With two outs in the seventh, Tommy Pham collects his third hit of the night. 

Onto the seventh

Sal Perez pops out. The Royals' threat is over. They did get one run. It's 3-1 Yankees through six innings. Gerrit Cole is through six innings on 77 pitches. He had only allowed two hits and zero runs before that inning. He gave up three hits and a run that inning.

Royals on the board

Vinnie Pasquantino doubles home Witt and it's 3-1 Yankees. 

With Pasquantino in scoring position, this immediately becomes very interesting. 

Gerrit Cole is only at 75 pitches, but this is tenuous now the third time through the order. An interesting decision here regardless. 

The Yankees leave him in and here comes big Salvador Perez. 

Bobby Witt Jr. singles. The crowd really wants something to happen. Hard to blame them. 

Benches clear in KC

This seems pretty harmless and unnecessary but maybe the dugouts were itching to come out. The force out at first caused a tag play to be necessary at second. Garcia slid a bit late and there was an interaction with Anthony Volpe that seemed to cause...something? And then Jazz Chisholm Jr. came over and something triggered the benches to clear. Gleyber Torres walked Garcia away. 

The KC crowd chants "Yankees suck," which is an interesting choice while down two games to one in the series and 3-0 in the game, but it sounds cool if you're taking part in it. 

Order is restored. 

This has been something pretty dumb, but ultimately harmless. 

So much for that rally

The crowd at Kauffman Stadium was loud and then got silent with a double play. And now the benches have cleared for some reason.

Royals with a good start in the sixth

Maikel Garcia singles to right. They trail 3-0, so baserunners without making outs is the word here, regardless of how they reach.

And Erceg escapes.

Erceg, typically a shutdown reliever, has experienced some turbulence here. He's now put two on after already allowing a run.

Stanton delivers again

A single up the middle gives the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

Judge advances to third on a Wells ground out to the right side.

And Judge, who has been mired in a slump, leads off with a double. Yankees trying to add insurance runs.

Erceg, who came in late in the fifth, will begin the sixth. He'll face Judge.

Cole punches out Isbel. Through five, it's 2-0 New York. Yankees are now 12 outs away from the ALCS.

Pham with his second hit of the night. Tying run is coming up against Cole, two outs in the fifth.

Melendez gave that one a ride, but it ends up a long out.

Erceg gets the out. It's 2-0 New York at the halfway point.

That'll be it for Wacha. 

And Torres comes through

Yankees now lead 2-0 on a Torres single. New York will continue to have runners on the corners with two down here in the fifth.

Hello! The Guardians beat the Tigers, 5-4, in Game 4 to force a Game 5. The Yankees and Royals will be pleased to know that if they advance to the ALCS and the Tigers are waiting, Tarik Skubal will have been used in Game 5 of the ALDS. 

Yankees with a first-and-third situation here in the fifth. Two down though, meaning it'll be up to Gleyber Torres to make it count.

Chisholm leading off the fifth here. Still 1-0 Yankees.