KANSAS CITY, Missouri – In Royals land, Gerrit Cole and the Yankees were kings.

They still have eight wins to go before they can be crowned champions, but their ace helped them move a round closer on Thursday night.

Cole pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball and the Yankees gave him enough offense while keeping him in the park to beat the Royals 3-1 and win the ALDS in four games at Kauffman Stadium.

The Yankees advanced to their fourth ALCS in the last eight years, but unlike the other three times, will not face the Astros.

Instead, they will host the winner of the Guardians and Tigers on Monday night in the Bronx, who will play Game 5 of their ALDS on Saturday.

After Cole gave the Yankees the best outing of any starter in the series, the bullpen completed a dominant ALDS, with Clay Holmes pitching a perfect score in the eighth inning and Luke Weaver doing the same in the ninth inning with his third save.

That was 15 ²/₃ innings without their relievers allowing an earned run in the series.

The Yankees entered Game 4 having gone 3 for 25 with runners in scoring position in the first three games before going 3 for 10 on Thursday to cement the series.

They took a 1-0 lead three pitches into the game with an RBI single from Juan Soto, then got another from Gleyber Torres in the fifth and the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth.

The benches were cleared in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Yankees completed a double play in which Anthony Volpe gave Maikel Garcia a tag at second base that came with an accidental forearm injury.

Garcia didn’t seem to agree with that, but then stopped and started talking to Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was public enemy No. 1 at Kauffman Stadium for saying the Royals were “lucky” in their Game 2 win had.

As players streamed onto the field from the dugouts and bullpens, Cole advanced on Garcia before being restrained by his catcher, Austin Wells.

No punches were thrown and eventually the tension was relieved as the teams returned to their respective sides.

Before the inning was over, the Royals finally reached Cole with a run on Vinnie Pasquantino’s RBI double that cut the deficit to 3-1.

Then Salvador Perez entered the game as a potential equalizer at Kauffman Stadium, but Cole got him to come out and end the threat.

The Royals tried to rally in the seventh – Tommy Pham got his third hit in three at-bats against Cole – but Kyle Isbel was just a few yards shy of a potential game-winning home run when Cole fired off the mound and went up.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead after just three pitches.

Torres took the lead by hitting Michael Wacha’s first pitch into the gap for a double before Soto blasted a single through the right side to drive Torres in for the quick strike.

Cole was coming off a Game 1 start in which he gave up four runs (three earned) in five-plus innings.

The Royals had jumped on his fastball, even for some loud outs early on, and the right-hander knew he had to be sharper when he saw them again five days later.

It was obvious that Cole was in for a better night from the start, as he struck out a pair in a quiet first inning and walked for the most part from then on.

The Yankees doubled their lead in the fifth, knocking Wacha out of the game in the process.

Volpe continued his strong streak by leading off with a smoked single off shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.’s jumper.

One out later, Jon Berti singled to bring Torres to the corners, who fired a single the other way for a 2-0 lead.

Aaron Judge got his first extra-base hit of the Series in the sixth inning, hitting a double into the gap before moving to third on Wells’ groundout.

Stanton, the hero of Game 3, came next and continued his red-hot streak by hitting a single up the middle for a 3-0 lead.