The Yankees did not reach second base Tuesday and did not take an at-bat with a runner in scoring position until the seventh inning Wednesday.
That at-bat, from Jose Trevino, ended in a crushing double play.
They tallied only six hits in 11 innings, consistently suffocated by strong Royals pitching.
But they made their few hits matter and played about as strong an all-around game as they have this season, ensuring some theatrics from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Juan Soto and some solid work from their bullpen would not be wasted.
Chisholm’s infield single in the 11th inning scored Jon Berti to deliver a 4-3, exhale of a walk-off win in front of 40,908 in The Bronx.
Perez needed to execute perfectly to throw Volpe out at home, and he did: a well-placed dart guided catcher Freddy Fermin’s glove right into a diving Volpe for a devastating double play.
The game remained tied until the 10th thanks to good work from Kahnle and Jake Cousins.
The teams traded runs in the 10th, when a wild pitch from Cousins gave the Royals a brief lead before a pinch-hitting Austin Wells lofted a fly ball down the left-field line that just traveled far enough to score Volpe from third.
A team better known for doing the big things did the small things.
“This is a big series win for us,” Boone said, “against a really good club over there that threw a lot of good pitching at us.”
