Calling up Jasson Dominguez let the Yankees and their fans dream about the possibilities. Playoff lineups could be drawn up, with significant names and/or significant résumés up and down the order.
Then the Yankees stepped into the batter’s box and gave those dreams life.
A lineup that can score with strength and speed did both, out-hitting and outrunning the mistakes the club made defensively in a series-opening and Dominguez era-opening 10-4 win over the Royals on Monday.
An energetic crowd of 35,308 saw “The Martian” manufacture one run and another rookie, Austin Wells, drill a three-run, go-ahead home run that capped their second comeback of the night.
Jasson Dominguez receives high-fives in his team dugout after he scores on a throwing error by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST“It’s going to be good, I feel like,” Dominguez said of envisioning this lineup when everyone is clicking. “Insane.”
The Yankees (83-61) moved 1 ½ games clear of the Orioles despite a 2-0 hole after three innings and a 4-3 deficit after six because they exploded in the seventh.
The Yankees knocked around Royals righty James McArthur in the game-deciding frame.
Gleyber Torres’ infield single and Juan Soto’s walk set the table for Aaron Judge, whose RBI single through the left side tied the game and became the Yankees’ first hit with runners in scoring position in six tries.
With two on, Wells then destroyed a no-doubt shot deep into the right-field seats for his 13th home run of what has been a tremendous rookie season.
“I was jacked. I was blacked out,” said Wells, who tied a career high with four RBIs. “I was pissed off about the way the prior at-bats and the game had gone, so just a big release of emotion.”
New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells reacts after his three run home run in the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POSTAaron Boone acknowledged that in spring, he could not imagine Wells — who is making a strong push for AL Rookie of the Year — performing to this level.
The 25-year-old has played solid defense while knocking the second-most home runs ever for a rookie Yankees catcher, behind only Gary Sanchez’s 20 in 2016.
Wells’ deciding blow would not be the final one: The Yankees had fun with the Royals bullpen in the eighth, when a Torres single scored one, a bases-loaded double play off Judge’s bat scored another and a second jolt from Wells — a run-scoring double to end a four-RBI night — put the Yankees into double digits.
“From the beginning of the year, we’ve known what we’re capable of,” Wells said of the offense. “It’s just going out there and doing it every night.”
New York Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo reacts after his two run home run against the Kansas City Royals with teammate New York Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, USA, Monday, September 09, 2024. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POSTThe long ball always has been a threat. The steal becomes more of a possibility with Dominguez.
Hours after his call-up, Dominguez singled in the fourth inning, advanced to second on a ground ball from Anthony Rizzo that might have been a double play with a slower runner on first, and then stole third base. The throw from Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez sailed into left field, allowing Dominguez to score the Yankees’ first run.
Dominguez played center field but is expected to usually patrol left for the final few weeks of the season, bouncing Alex Verdugo to the bench often.
New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon reacts in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POSTAs if on cue — or as if he felt the pressure from competition — Verdugo watched Dominguez score and Oswaldo Cabrera walk and then blasted a two-run homer to right for a temporary lead and just his second dinger in his past 51 games.
Jake Cousins, Luke Weaver and Ian Hamilton tossed three scoreless innings out of the bullpen, preserving a victory that probably should have been even more lopsided. Carlos Rodon (six innings in which he allowed four runs, two of which were legitimate) was better than his defense.
The Royals scored in the first inning, when Tommy Pham reached on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. error, stole second and made it to third on a Wells throwing error, then scored on a single.
Perez blasted a third-inning solo shot, then lofted a pop-up into the clouds in the fifth inning.
Aaron Judge connects on a RBI single in the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, USA, Monday, September 09, 2024. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POSTSoto ran in but did not call off Torres, who had overrun the ball. Torres backpedaled too late, the gift single dropping and scoring Bobby Witt Jr. all the way from first for a third Royals run that tied the game.
“A play obviously we gotta make,” Boone said after a night Rodon was solid and struck out nine.
Rodon — and the defense behind him — had room for error because Wells led an attack that looked pretty tantalizing.
“[Wells] kind of took over the game,” Rodon said.
