MLB Playoffs 2024: The Yankees win Game 1 against the Royals despite poor performances from Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole

NEW YORK – Gerrit Cole was shaky. Aaron Judge didn't do anything. The Yankees still won.

Under the eyes of a sellout home crowd and under an avalanche of supersonic expectations, the Bronx Bombers opened their 2024 postseason journey with a sloppy, high-energy comeback victory over the surging Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Much-maligned outfielder Alex Verdugo provided the decisive blow in New York's 6-5 victory on Saturday, hitting a two-out RBI in the seventh to give New York a lead it refused to relinquish. As he reached second base, a triumphant Verdugo threw his hands in the air and made a summoning motion toward his cheering teammates.

Yankee Stadium roared with joy, 45,000 people celebrating the man many die-hard fans had forgotten about during Verdugo's summer of offensive ineptitude.

In an instant all was forgiven – or at least forgotten. The effect was the same.

“This is his moment,” third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. told Yahoo Sports of Verdugo. “That’s when he does his shit. He's been doing this his whole life – playing in LA, playing in Boston. That’s what he does.”

Acquired last winter in a trade with the rival Red Sox, Verdugo struggled with the bat in his first year in the Bronx. The stellar defense in Yankee Stadium's spacious left field kept his profile up, but the endearingly aloof left-hander didn't fare well at the plate. These struggles drew the ire of Yankees fans, who were desperate for top prospect Jason Domínguez to usurp Verdugo as their everyday left fielder.

Calling up Domínguez in September felt like an audition of sorts. Maybe in a hot few weeks the 21-year-old rookie would edge out Verdugo in the playoffs.

Instead, Domínguez scuffled while Verdugo showed signs of life. That only strengthened the resolve of Yankees captain Aaron Boone, who never lost faith in Verdugo through it all. A few days ago, Boone informed the 28-year-old that he would be selected in left field for the club's first playoff game.

Boone said: “He's a good all-round player and it's not always what you've done that matters – it's what you're capable of moving forward.”

On Saturday, under the sport's brightest lights, Verdugo paid his manager back.

“He'll trust me,” Verdugo said. “And I just wanted to tell him, 'Hey, man, I got you.'”

Boone's unwavering faith in his players is perhaps his most defining characteristic as a manager. There is no louder fan base in sports. Boone is a master at blocking out the noise and staying true to his words. Sometimes that loyalty comes back to burn him – Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks are two obvious examples – but it also fosters a sense of loyalty among his players that is hard to ignore.

“He experienced those moments,” Chisholm said of Boone. “He was a Yankee. He knows how hard it is.”

And for much of Saturday, things looked pretty tough for the Yankees.

Judge, the presumptive American League MVP, went 0-for-4 with one walk and three strikeouts. Two of his punchouts came with two runners on base. The Yankees captain shot and missed seven times on the night, his third-highest point total in a game this year. It's been a rough start for Judge, who is still waiting for his first World Series appearance in his seventh postseason.

Cole, who allowed just one run in his final 15 2/3 innings at the end of the regular season, appeared shaky from the first pitch. Kansas City leadoff man Michael Massey hit the first at-bat of the game to the warning track in left field. If there hadn't been a steady wind blowing toward home plate, the ball might have landed in the seats. Instead, it found safety in Juan Soto's glove.

Overall, Cole gave up four runs (three earned) in five rocky innings. The Royals, who managed just three runs over 18 innings in their wild-card win over Baltimore, had seven hits against the reigning AL Cy Young. Cole left in the sixth inning after his former teammate, 40-year-old first baseman Yuli Gurriel, blasted a laser-beam single off the left field wall. Gurriel's hit would have been a home run in six MLB ballparks, including his and Cole's old venue in Houston.

Gurriel managed to score, benefiting greatly from a throwing error by Anthony Volpe on a possible double play. But then the New York bullpen calmed things down and kept the Royals scoreless in the final three frames of the game.

Yankees closer Luke Weaver collected the final four outs in electrifying fashion. The slender right-hander defeated Maikel Garcia to close out the eighth round before going 1-2-3 in the ninth to eliminate Kansas City's top three in the order. A coin-flip strike-three call to Royals dynamo Bobby Witt Jr. for No. 2 sent the home crowd into an uproar and Witt into a fit of frustration. Weaver got first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino to roll gently to first base to end the game.

For New York, the achievement was anything but definitive. Soto (three goals) was the only star who lived up to these expectations. The Yankees let the Royals get back into the game several times. There were defensive mistakes and baserunning mistakes. Shortcomings remain; Superior opponents await.

But when the first notes of Sinatra's “New York, New York” blared from the stadium loudspeaker at 10:01 p.m. local time, the Yankees were 1-0.

For now, that's all that matters.