The Yankees dropped the Royals back into the ALDS with an uninspired loss in Game 2

As electric as it was in the first inning at sold-out Yankee Stadium on Monday, the building slowly lost power as the night progressed.

The ups and downs of Carlos Rodon and a wasteful offense will ensure that.

Rodon fumbled during a four-run fourth inning and the Yankees' hitters looked like they were in their summer swoon en route to a 4-2 loss to the Royals in Game 2 of the ALDS.

Life came back to the Bronx in the bottom of the ninth inning when Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off Royals closer Lucas Erceg with a home run to second.

But that was only temporary, as the Yankees scored the winning run with two outs to Gleyber Torres and ended it with a groundout.

There will be no win over an AL Central opponent this time around as the teams now travel to Kansas City and the series heads into Game 3 on Wednesday with a 1-1 tie.

While Rodon was a buzzkill, giving up four runs over 3²/₃ innings after a dominant start, the Yankees' bullpen kept the deficit at 4-1 and gave its offense a fighting chance.

Except the Yankees couldn't do anything with it against lefty Cole Ragans and the Royals' bullpen.

After going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position in Saturday's Game 1 win, the Yankees went 1-for-6 and 2-for-20 with runners on base on Monday.

That included another quiet night for likely AL MVP Aaron Judge, who went 1-for-3 with a walk and an infield single.

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The Yankees struggled to generate much offense against Ragans, letting him off the hook early after he walked the first two batters of the game.

They forced him to throw 87 pitches to get 12 outs as the Royals turned to their bullpen to start the fifth inning, but the Yankees also couldn't figure out their four relievers.

In two games, the Yankees have hit in six innings.

Three times, including Monday night, the Royals responded with at least a run in the next half inning.

Rodon came out firing and filled the strike zone.

He pitched over the side in a lively first inning, eliciting an emphatic, even slightly maniacal reaction after each punchout, including sticking out his tongue after getting Vinnie Pasquantino to chase a slider to end the frame .

The Yankees missed an opportunity to knock Ragans out early — just as they did against Michael Wacha in Game 1 — after he walked the first two batters in the bottom of Game 1.

Judge struck again, as did Austin Wells, before Giancarlo Stanton kicked out to end the threat.

However, they finally reached it in the third inning, which Torres led off with another walk.

Two outs later, Wells singled before Stanton executed a one-hopper to shortstop that ate up Bobby Witt Jr. and spilled into shallow left field.

Torres didn't stop running around third and scored for a 1-0 lead.

But the Royals didn't let that momentum last long, stealing it early in the fourth and knocking Rodon out of the game.

Salvador Perez, who entered the night with three career home runs against Rodon, going 12 of 26, hit a fourth to lead off the inning.

The catcher, who may be headed to Cooperstown, got a 2-0 slope slider and hit it to left field for a solo shot that tied the game.

The Royals' next three hits also came on sliders, as the pitch proved to be Rodon's undoing.

Yuli Gurriel hit a single for a single to left field and then took second base when Rodon fired a slider past Wells.

One out later, Tommy Pham drilled a 1-2 slider to right field to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.

Rodon pushed out Hunter Renfroe for the second out, but Pham stole second on offense and set him up for the point when No. 9 hitter Garrett Hampson blasted a 3-2 slider through the left side to make it 3-1 and Rodon's win ended night early.

Alex Verdugo hit Hampson's single and shot home, but third baseman Chisholm got into position too late to block the throw, so Hampson went to second.

Things got painful again when Ian Hamilton allowed a first-pitch single to Maikel Garcia, giving the Royals a 4-1 lead.