Alex Verdugo plays unlikely hero in Yankees’ Game 1 ALDS win
As Alex Verdugo spent most of the summer being one of the worst qualified hitters in the majors, Aaron Boone continued to stand by his left fielder.
And even after Jasson Dominguez threatened to take Verdugo’s job in September — with fans clamoring for it to happen — the Yankees couldn’t quite quit him.
At least in the first game of October, that faith was rewarded.
After Boone landed on Verdugo as his starting left fielder, the veteran delivered two key defensive plays and reached base three times, including the go-ahead single in the seventh inning to lift the Yankees to a 6-5 win over the Royals in Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday night in The Bronx.
“You can make up for a lot of things in the playoffs,” Verdugo said after going 2-for-3 with a walk and scoring two runs.
Even without Gerrit Cole (five innings, four runs) being dominant or Aaron Judge (0-for-4, walk) coming through in big spots, the Yankees did enough to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 48,790.
Luke Weaver recorded the four-out save on a night when Clay Holmes was the unsung hero, getting five big outs without allowing a run.
In the first playoff game in major league history that featured five lead changes, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs, the Royals had answered in the next half inning after each of the first two frames in which the Yankees scored.
But Holmes kept them scoreless in the top of the seventh after Austin Wells’ RBI single had tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, scoring Verdugo from second.
“This kind of baseball is going to take everybody,” Verdugo said. “Every at-bat, every pitch in the playoffs matters, and this is the kind of baseball that I love.”
Verdugo’s night of redemption was capped off in the seventh inning, when he laced a two-out single the other way off Michael Lorenzen, allowing Jazz Chisholm Jr. to race home from second to break a 5-5 tie.
As Verdugo jogged into second base on the throw home, he did so with his hands raised as if the weight of the last few months had been lifted off his shoulders.
Boone had said before the game that Verdugo’s steady defense was a “huge factor” in starting, but also thought he still had a “good run of offense in him,” with Saturday being a strong start.
“He’s a good all-around player, and it’s not always what you did, it’s what you’re capable of doing moving forward,” Boone said after the game. “I think he’s been champing at the bit for postseason baseball. He’s had experience doing it before. He’s had success doing it before. I think this is one of those things that hopefully gives him a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Verdugo, who said he found out he was starting a few days ago, had been the subject of boos from the home crowd at times in September.
He admitted that he went through a period where he let things “spiral out of control a little bit,” and he also was not happy about losing playing time to Dominguez late.
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But he got through it mentally by leaning on his teammates, who kept telling him not to let his offensive struggles define his season, and physically by hiring a personal chef who helped him feel more fresh.
“We all know Dugo’s a dawg,” Chisholm said. “He’s been in moments, he’s played for big teams before. This isn’t anything new to him. He lives for this.”
In the fourth inning, Verdugo made a sliding catch along the left-field foul line to get Cole out of a jam and save at least one run, keeping the Royals lead at 3-2.
Then in the sixth, Verdugo made a strong play on Yuli Gurriel’s bullet off the wall to hold him to a single, though the Royals ended up scoring a pair of unearned runs to take a 5-4 lead after Anthony Volpe’s throwing error.
The Yankees did not make it easy on themselves, wasting plenty of early scoring chances against Michael Wacha and going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. But they got enough from Gleyber Torres (two-run home run, two walks), Juan Soto (3-for-5), Wells (two RBIs in his playoff debut) and Verdugo to enter Sunday’s off-day with the series lead.
“When the lights are brightest, that’s when we want to play,” Verdugo said. “I think for me, it’s just — there’s a finish line. There’s finally a finish line, and when you see that, it’s basically full sprint. Full sprint, and let’s go get it.”
