Several New York sports teams made headlines this week -- though not all good ones. The Giants and especially the Jets are said to have done well in the NFL Draft. The Nets spectacularly flamed out of the NBA Playoffs. And, last night, though they needed 5 pitchers to do it -- Tylor Megill for 5 innings, Drew Smith for 1 1/3rd, Joely Rodriguez for 1, Seth Lugo for 2/3rds, and Edwin Diaz for 1 -- the Mets finally got their first real no-hitter in their 60-year history. (Unless you want to say that Carlos Beltran's double off Johan Santana that got incorrectly ruled a foul ball was the result of cheating -- and he wasn't a Houston Astro yet.)
The Yankees aren't making headlines. They're just winning.
They began a roadtrip last night, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a double. Aaron Judge nearly hit a home run, but it was caught. Perhaps inspired, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back home runs, to put the Yankees 3-0 up before the Royals even came to bat.
Nestor Cortes allowed a run in the bottom of the 1st, but cruised after that, going 5 innings, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, on 8 hits, and no walks, striking out 3. Jonathan Loáisiga, Chad Green and Lucas Luetge each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
The Yankees didn't need more runs, but they didn't know that at the time. Still, they got more, including a 3-run home run by Judge in the 7th. They put the game away in the top of the 8th, including a home run by Gleyber Torres.
After the 8th inning, the umpires called the game due to rain. Yankees 12, Royals 2. WP: Cortes (1-0). No save. LP: Kris Bubic (1-0).
The series continues tonight. Gerrit Cole starts against Carlos Hernández.