Tensions were running high in Kauffman Stadium on Thursday after a hard tag led to a brief benches-clearing incident between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees.
Michael Massey roped a hard grounder to first, and Jon Berti touched the bag before firing over to second. Maikel Garcia slid hard into the bag, and Anthony Volpe’s tag matched the toughness.
Volpe tagged Garcia near the chest and even made contact with his other arm. In what seemed like an apology for a hard tag, Volpe patted Garcia several times, but Garcia was not a fan.
Garcia eyeballed Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who gave Kansas City bulletin board material by saying they “got lucky” in Game 2. Chisholm then approached Garcia, as did Volpe and even starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.
The benches and bullpens cleared during that brief altercation, as Volpe and Chisholm both waved Garcia off, and Cole gave him a death stare.
Chisholm even had to be held back by several people from his own dugout.
It wasn’t quite Greg Nettles vs. George Brett, but it was a nice homage to the old rivalry from the 1970s.
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Perhaps the Royals were looking for any sort of spark, as the incident occurred while 10 outs away from elimination – it did seem to fire them up a bit, as Bobby Witt singled and then scored on a Vinnie Pasquantino double afterward.
But, for the most part, Cole has been mowing Kansas City down, allowing just that run in his first six innings of work at the time of publishing.
Giancarlo Stanton continued to build on his October resume, adding an RBI single in the sixth inning. Juan Soto and Gleyber Torres also have RBI singles.
A win would put the Yankees in their fourth ALCS since 2017, all of which ended in eliminations via the Houston Astros.
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