Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees Pick & Prediction APRIL 16th 2025
Preview and Prediction
The New York Yankees are receiving a boost from Jasson Dominguez's fielding and hitting, in addition to strong performances from their starting pitchers, in their two victories against the Kansas City Royals.
The Yankees, playing at home, are eager to see if Dominguez can replicate his impressive performance and how Clarke Schmidt will fare in his first game of the season on Wednesday night.
New York is aiming for their second series sweep of the season after coming back from a two-run deficit to secure a 4-2 win on Tuesday. Dominguez, batting from the right side of the plate, delivered a crucial double with the bases loaded in the sixth inning off left-handed reliever Angel Zerpa to break the tie.
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Dominguez has a .275 batting average this season and is 6-for-12 in his last four games. He tied his career high with three hits and set a new career best with three RBIs on Tuesday. Dominguez's impressive performance at the plate was preceded by several great plays in left field, and he would have remained in the game if he hadn't lost his contact lenses.
"He always remains calm and collected, which is one of the things we love about him," commented Yankees manager Aaron Boone. "He never seems overwhelmed by the situation."
Schmidt will make his season debut after missing the first 17 games of the season due to rotator cuff tendinitis. Last season, he went 5-5 with a 2.85 ERA in 16 starts and 85 1/3 innings, but was sidelined for three months due to a lat strain.
The right-hander sustained an injury early in spring training and is now returning after throwing 7 1/3 scoreless innings in two rehab starts for Double-A Somerset.
"We're counting on Clarke," stated Boone on Tuesday afternoon. "We have high expectations for him now. Players like Clarke are always improving, but we have a lot of confidence in his abilities and how much he has grown as a pitcher."
Schmidt has a 2-0 record with a 3.29 ERA in four career appearances (two starts) against the Kansas City Royals.
The Royals will face Schmidt after struggling to produce hits in the first two games of the series. Bobby Witt Jr. has three hits in the series and is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, batting .440 (11-for-26), but the Royals have lost five of their last seven games and have scored three runs or less in 11 games.
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"I know what we are capable of doing," said Witt earlier this week. "It's just a matter of time."
The Royals are hoping their offense will start clicking while Kris Bubic (2-1, 0.96) delivers a strong performance on the mound.
Bubic pitched six scoreless innings in his season debut on March 31 against the Milwaukee Brewers and allowed only one run in his first 12 2/3 innings. However, in his last start against the Cleveland Guardians on Friday, he gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits in a 7-0 loss.
Bubic has a 0-2 record with a 3.45 ERA in five career appearances (two starts) against the Yankees.
Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees Recap OCT 5TH 2024
NEW YORK -- Salvador Perez hit a long homer off Carlos Rodon to start a four-run fourth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Monday night to even their American League Division Series at one game apiece.
Game 3 of the best-of-five set is scheduled for Wednesday night in Kansas City.
The only remaining player from Kansas City's 2015 World Series team, Perez forged a 1-1 tie by hammering a 2-0 slider to the back of the left field seats.
It was Perez's sixth career postseason homer and first since Game 5 of the 2015 AL Championship Series.
The veteran catcher's 402-foot drive gives him 13 hits in 28 career at-bats off Rodon (0-1), whom he faced frequently when the Yankees left-hander pitched for the Chicago White Sox.
Following Perez's homer, the Royals continued to pounce on Rodon's slider, as Tommy Pham and Garrett Hampson had run-scoring singles.
Yuli Gurriel followed Perez's drive with a single to left on a 2-2 slider and took second on a wild pitch. After Rodon got the first out of the fourth, Pham lined another slider to center to plate Gurriel for a 2-1 lead, then stole second.
With two outs, Pham easily scored when Hampson hit a slider to left for a 3-1 lead, chasing Rodon from the game in the process. Maikel Garcia added an RBI single off Ian Hamilton, but he got caught in a rundown for the final out of the frame.
Kansas City starter Cole Ragans struggled with command at times but held the Yankees to one run on three hits in four innings before the Royals used four relievers to finish the game. Ragans struck out five and walked four.
Angel Zerpa (2-0) got a double play to end the fifth, and John Schreiber got three flyouts in the sixth for Kansas City.
Kris Bubic pitched two innings, getting Juan Soto to fly out to the warning track to end the seventh and retiring Giancarlo Stanton on a double-play grounder to end the eighth. Lucas Erceg gave up Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s homer to start the ninth and a two-out single to Jon Berti before notching the save.
Rodon allowed four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He didn't issue a walk and fanned seven.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the third on Stanton's RBI single.
New York finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
--Larry Fleisher,