Still, it was a remarkable turnaround for a club that went from 106 losses a year ago to making its first postseason appearance since winning the 2015 World Series. And with young stars like Bobby Witt Jr. signing long-term deals, there’s hope in Kansas City that this was a beginning rather than an end.

New York set the tone from the start and, like in the series opener, pounced on Wacha. Torres hit the veteran right-hander’s first pitch for a double, and Soto followed with an RBI single on just the third pitch of the night.

Anthony Volpe kept the pressure on with his single in the fifth. And after Alex Verdugo grounded into a forceout and Jon Berti hit a single to put runners on the corners, Torres added a two-out single to make it 2-0 and end Wacha’s night.

Meanwhile, Cole only seemed to get stronger the more innings he completed.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner retired his first six batters, worked around a leadoff single in the third and retired eight more in the fifth before Tommy Pham singled. Cole immediately struck out Kyle Isbel in three pitches to end the inning.

Stanton, who hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of Game 3, extended the lead to 3-0 with his single in the sixth inning.

Tensions that had been simmering all night – and all series after Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm called the Royals’ Game 2 win “lucky” – finally boiled over in Game 6. Volpe hit Maikel Garcia hard at second base to complete a double play, and the Royals third baseman took offense. Players streamed out of both dugouts before order was restored.

The near-riot also nearly set Kansas City on fire. Witt, who had been 1 for 15 in the series, followed with a base hit and Vinnie Pasquantino – who had been 0 for 14 – had an RBI double. But as the sellout crowd of 39,012 at Kauffman Stadium suddenly became excited, Cole got Salvador Perez to lazily skip to second base to end the inning.

Cole’s night ended after he got Isbel to fly to the warning track with a runner on board to end the seventh, a shot from deep into right field that would have been the game-winning home run if he had scored in that part of Yankee Stadium would have been hit.

New York’s bullpen did the rest.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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