– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — The one person who agreed with New York Yankees fans the most in audibly showing their displeasure for the out-of-form Alex Verdugo was Alex Verdugo himself. Before the end of Saturday night, almost 50,000 of those fans created a deafening, exhilarating cacophony inspired by the left fielder’s glove and bat.
Verdugo lined a go-ahead base hit in the seventh inning to provide the final momentum swing as the New York Yankees came from behind to defeat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 in Game 1 of the American League Division Series inside Yankee Stadium. Verdugo had two hits while Juan Soto went 3-for-5 to make up for a hitless night by Aaron Judge, while the New York Bullpen allowed just an unearned run and two hits after starter Gerrit Cole went the first five innings.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this was the first postseason game ever to feature five lead changes; the Royals had leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4, while the Yankees once had 2-1 and 4-3 advantages before letting those slip away.
Chosen over Jasson Dominguez to start in left field because of defense, Verdugo first rewarded manager Aaron Boone’s trust by making a sliding catch down the left field line of a blooper by Michael Massey with two runners on to end the top of the fourth and keep the Yankees’ deficit at 3-2. (The play was ruled that the catch was made in foul territory, but it appeared that the ball was just inside of the foul line as Verdugo made the juggling catch.)
With the game tied at 5-5 with two outs and Jazz Chisolm at second base, Verdugo lined an opposite field base hit to center off Kansas City Michael Lorenzen to bring home the game-winning run. Over the last seven games of the season, Verdugo batted .143 (3-for-21), but more than made up for his end-of-season slump with some start-of-postseason heroics.
“I feel like I’m pretty real with myself,” Verdugo said. “As in fans booing me, fans getting on me — I understand it. I was booing myself, too.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 34 pictures in total.
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