KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Royals do a lot well.
Their rotation entered play with the fifth-best ERA in all of baseball. They began action Tuesday having scored 331 runs, which was tied for the fourth-most in the majors. They are a legitimate threat in the AL Central and sit comfortably in wild-card position.
But a team that might be destined for October baseball has looked amateur next to the powerhouse from The Bronx.
The Yankees again excelled in every facet of play — getting three homers and far more than enough from a powerful offense while putting together a spotless defensive game that helped out Marcus Stroman and the relievers who followed — in a thorough destruction of the Royals, 10-1, at Kauffman Stadium.
The Yankees (48-21) have taken the first two games of a four-game series, have won 11 of 13 and continue to treat the AL Central the same way Aaron Judge treats baseballs.
Judge’s majors-leading 25th home run helped the Yankees improve to 16-1 against the Royals (39-29), Twins, White Sox, Guardians and Tigers this season.
What the Yankees are doing to the AL Central is cruel.
What Judge, who blasted a two-run shot in the seventh inning for his fourth home run in his past three games, is doing is special.
“I’m trying not to take that for granted,” manager Aaron Boone said after Judge extended his on-base streak to 36 games, a span in which he is batting .415 with 35 extra-base hits. “It’s a lot of fun to witness.”
Unlike last season, though, the Yankees have been more than the Judge show.
Every player in the starting lineup except Anthony Rizzo — who had a great defensive game — reached base.
The Yankees grabbed a lead in the first inning on an Anthony Volpe triple, Juan Soto walk and Judge bloop single and never looked back.
They have led after every inning of this series.
“We’ve just got a lot of confidence in each other,” Judge said after his team moved a season-high 27 games over .500. “We’ve got a lot of special players in this room.”
The game became a laugher in the fourth, when Gleyber Torres knocked an RBI single before Austin Wells blasted a three-run shot — “big knockout right there,” Boone said — to bring the lead to six.
The Yankees turned the laugher into a howler in the seventh.
First Judge smoked the home run that tied him with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez for the MLB lead in RBIs at 62.
Next Giancarlo Stanton demolished a Nick Anderson fastball a jaw-dropping 446 feet to center field.
“He was joking with us pregame saying this is one spot he hasn’t gone dead-center yet at,” Judge said. “He kind of called his shot tonight.”
They surely appreciated it, but Stroman and the bullpen didn’t need the cushion.
Stroman induced ground ball after ground ball en route to 5 ²/₃ shutout innings in which he scattered four hits and three walks and lowered his ERA to 2.82.
The righty relied upon soft contact (which he got) and excellent defense behind him (which he got).
There was the second-inning ball that Nelson Velazquez scalded on a short hop to Volpe, who did well to knock it down, picked up the ball on the outfield grass and threw strong to first just in time.
“Volpe’s incredible, man,” Stroman said. “He makes really hard plays look really easy.”
There was the miracle basket catch by Rizzo in the fourth inning, when the first baseman ranged back — all the way to nearly medium-depth right field — and ran with his back to home plate before sticking out his glove.
The pop-up from Salvador Perez landed in the heel of the mitt of Rizzo, who stumbled to the grass and lay there for a moment.
“Over the shoulder, kind of akin to that Jim Edmonds catch here many, many moons ago,” Boone said with a smile.
Stroman received help from his bullpen, too.
In the sixth, a single and two walks loaded the bases with two outs for Drew Waters, and Boone turned to Ron Marinaccio. The recent call-up needed four pitches to strike out Waters.
“I owe him a bottle of wine or something,” Stroman said of Marinaccio.
This was the kind of game that made each team want to drink, though for different reasons.
“Just one of those really good nights,” Boone said.
