NEW YORK _ It wasn't pretty, it wasn't easy, but if the celebration near the first-base bag was any indication, it was worth it.
Austin Romine's walk-off single to right-center scored Mike Tauchman with no outs in the 10th on Sunday as the Yankees overcame losing a big lead late and defeated the Royals, 7-6, at Yankee Stadium.
Romine also had the game-tying hit, an RBI single in the eighth to knot it at 6.
Handed a 5-0 lead, Chad Green allowed three straight batters to reach to kick off the top of the eighth _ on a single, a walk, and another single. Green was lifted for Adam Ottavino, who promptly allowed a two-run double to Adalberto Mondesi. The next batter, Alex Gordon, teed off on a cutter that didn't quite cut, a three-run homer that tied the game at 5. Hunter Dozier's homer off Ottavnio put the Royals up 6-5. The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the inning Tauchman doubled and Romine singled past a diving Chris Owings at third to score the run.
Earlier Sunday, Aaron Judge was officially placed on the injured list, the 13th Yankee to currently have that designation. Despite that, though, in the earlier innings Sunday, the Yankees managed to put together a complete performance, with contributions from a slew of replacement parts.
It started with James Paxton, who struck out 12 over six innings, his second straight game of 10 strikeouts or more and the 13th of his career. Making good use of his fastball and cutter, Paxton allowed only two runners to reach second base and, at one point, struck out eight of nine batters. He allowed no runs on three hits and a walk, bringing his ERA down to 3.10.
The Yankees' offense got things started almost instantly, thanks to a little help from Royals catcher Martin Maldonado. DJ LeMahieu kicked things off with a leadoff double, and he moved over on Luke Voit's (very long) fly out. Then, with Brett Gardner at bat, Jorge Lopez's fastball got away from Maldonado, skittering to the backstop and allowing LeMahieu to score the game's first run.
While Paxton made easy work of the Royals' lineup, the Duct Tape Yankees scored again; with two outs in the second, Mike Ford collected his first major-league hit, a double to left, and Romine drove him home with a single.
The Yankees tacked on three more in the fifth, when Voit singled with one out, Brett Gardner beat the shift with a single of his own, and Clint Frazier launched his sixth homer 429 feet to the bleachers in left, putting the Yankees up 5-0. It was his second home run in as many days.
The Royals were able to stir up a little trouble against Paxton in the seventh, when Gordon led off with a double and Dozier walked, ending the pitcher's afternoon. Tommy Kahnle, though, was able to close the door, on a strikeout, flyout and strikeout.
