KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The jigsaw puzzle came together just right.
Four relief pitchers combined to get the final 13 outs Wednesday and allowed the score to stay tied long enough for Giancarlo Stanton’s decisive home run, giving the Yankees a 3-2 win over the Royals in Game 3 of the ALDS.
“Just complete confidence in them,” Clarke Schmidt said after throwing the first 4 ²/₃ innings. “I think that’s been one of our strengths, if not our main strength, the whole year.”
Of the 13 outs that the bullpen recorded, only one was via strikeout — a testament both to what makes the Royals such a scrappy opponent and to the surprisingly effective defense the Yankees have played despite having players out of position all across the diamond.
“It’s not always going to be, I guess, dominant,” closer Luke Weaver said after notching the final five outs. “You’re trying to change up your approaches as a pitcher, you’re trying to pitch them differently. But there’s some really good players that are all over the field, so you just sometimes cross your fingers.”
No luck needed here.
The Yankees had the sixth-best bullpen ERA (3.62) during the regular season despite a cycle of injury-forced moving parts, but a case could be made that the group has never been stronger than now.
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The bullpen hasn’t allowed an earned run in 13 ²/₃ innings over the series.
Weaver, who has become near-automatic since taking over the role in September, worked an anticlimactic ninth inning.
The Royals’ last gasp hope, pinch-hitter Tommy Pham, grounded out on the first pitch of the final at-bat.
Demoted closer Clay Holmes — being used in an important role to clean up mid-inning messes in the playoffs a la David Robertson of years gone by — got maybe the biggest out when he stranded runners on the corners after the Royals scored two in the fifth inning.
Holmes stayed in to work a 1-2-3 sixth inning with the score still tied 2-2. Tommy Kahnle (1-0) was just as good, retiring all four batters he faced, including the first out of the eighth.
“Shorten the game enough for Weave,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The bullpen was great.”
Weaver was greeted with a single through the left side by Bobby Witt Jr.
That’s where a web gem entered the equation.
Shortstop Anthony Volpe made a diving catch behind second base to rob Vinnie Pasquantino of a hit that likely would’ve put runners on first and third with one out.
Runners advanced to the corners with two outs, anyway, but Weaver retired longtime Yankees nemesis Yuli Gurriel on a fly ball to center field.
“That’s why it’s so important getting a lead,” Aaron Judge said. “They’re so electric.You got so many different guys that can match up well against different types of hitters. My hat’s off to them. It’s just about getting the lead and throwing it to those guys.”
