Salvador Perez on Monday homered leading off the fourth inning to spark a four-run rally against Carlos Rodon, as the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees 4-2 to even their American League Division Series (ALDS) at one game apiece, while the Detroit Tigers stunned the Cleveland Guardians to tie their series.
Four relievers held New York in check after an inconsistent Cole Ragans lasted four innings. Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia singled in runs for the Royals.
Game 3 in the best-of-five playoff is today at Kansas City, the Royals’ first post-season home game since the 2015 World Series.
Photo: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / USA Today
“It’s basically like a brand-new series when we get to the K,” Ragans said, referring to Kauffman Stadium.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 1-for-3 with an infield single and is 1-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series. Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr, expected to finish second to Judge in AL Most Valuable Player voting, was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, dropping to 0-for-10 in the series.
All four Division Series opened 1-1 for the first time since the round started in 1995.
Giancarlo Stanton put the Yankees ahead with an RBI single in the third, but New York went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and is 3 for 19 in the two games.
Ragans allowed just the one run and three hits, striking out five and walking four. Winning pitcher Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber each followed with a hitless inning before Kris Bubic threw two scoreless innings. Lucas Erceg worked the ninth for his third save this post-season.
Perez, at 34 the only remaining Royals player from their 2015 championship team, tied the score when he drove a 2-0 slider into the left-field seats. The nine-time All-Star entered 12-for-26 (.462) with three homers off Rodon, an old AL Central rival when he pitched for the Chicago White Sox.
Ragans said he started the series with a walk in the park on Sunday, taking an 11-minute stroll from the team’s hotel in midtown Manhattan to play catch in Central Park on the Heckscher Ballfields, just as so many amateur baseball and softball players do each day.
“Just found a little grass patch there in the middle of Central Park, and me and Sam Long played a little catch there for a little bit,” Ragans said of his teammate. “It was pretty cool.”
Ragans arrived at Central Park at about 11am. He threw from 75 feet for about 5 to 10 minutes.
“Nobody recognized us,” he said. “We just got our stuff done and went back to the hotel.”
In Cleveland, Kerry Carpenter hit a three-run homer off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning, as the Tigers stunned the Guardians 3-0 in Game 2 to even their AL Division Series.
Carpenter connected for a 423-foot shot with two outs off Clase, who had not given up a run since Aug. 30 and led the American League with 47 saves.
“To do it off him is special,” Carpenter said. “He’s one of the best.”
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