Yankees beat Royals as Aaron Judge adds 25th homer, Clarke Schmidt shines

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Jun 11, 2025

Published in Baseball

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The Yankees secured their second series win of the season over their 2024 ALDS opponents on Wednesday, beating the Royals, 6-3, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

A five-run frame fueled the Bombers’ victory, as they made easy work of Kris Bubic. The left-hander entered the game with 1.43 ERA, the best of any starter in baseball, but that didn’t matter much after Cody Bellinger led the second inning off with his third triple of the year.

Following a walk to Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bellinger scored when Anthony Volpe grounded into a fielder’s choice. A Trent Grisham groundout and a DJ LeMahieu walk then preceded an RBI double from Austin Wells.

The Yankees’ catcher played a pivotal part in the series opener as well, as Wells hit a three-run homer and totaled five RBIs in Tuesday’s game.

With the Yankees up 2-0 and two outs on the board, Paul Goldschmidt added a two-run single. Ben Rice capped the Yankees’ second-inning scoring with a single of his own.

Bubic didn’t run into any problems after that, and he actually worked into the fifth inning despite the absence of his best stuff.

However, the Yankees’ offense wasn’t done, as Aaron Judge clubbed his 25th home run of the season off Steven Cruz in the seventh inning.

Judge, who hit a 469-foot homer on Tuesday and went deep twice on Sunday, only trails Cal Raleigh in the long-ball department. The Seattle catcher has 26 home runs this season.

Judge’s .394 average leads the majors by a wide margin.

On the mound, Clarke Schmidt took advantage of an early lead, tossing six scoreless innings for the second time in his last three starts.

The Royals only mustered two hits against the righty. While Schmidt walked three batters, he struck out seven over 91 pitches.

Grisham, meanwhile, made two diving catches in center, robbing hits in the second and eighth innings. Both grabs had to be confirmed by replay review.

The Royals did manage to score before the game ended, as Salvador Perez launched a two-run homer off Mark Leiter Jr. in the ninth after a routine pop-up fell in the Yankees’ infield. Leiter then gave away another run with a throwing error.

Fortunately for the Yankees, Devin Williams shut the door with a two-out save.

With a win in the books, the Yankees will look to sweep Kansas City for the second time this season on Thursday. They may have to do so without Chisholm, as he exited Wednesday’s game with left groin tightness in the fifth inning.

Chisholm also exited Tuesday’s game early after hurting his neck and right thumb on a stolen base.