Yankees complete sweep in KC as Pablo Reyes scores on Royals' error in eighth

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — First it was Pablo Reyes with his glove. Then his bat. Then his legs.

The latter carried the second baseman – though stumbled would be the more accurate description – to the plate in the eighth inning Thursday night, the lone run scored in a somewhat bizarre 1-0 Yankees’ victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium that secured a three-game sweep.

As the old saying goes, any port in the storm.

“We’ll take it,” Aaron Boone said with a smile.

The Yankees (42-25), who beat the Royals (34-35) in four games in last October’s ALDS and swept all six games against them this season, have won 23 of their last 32 games.

Thursday night’s victory was perhaps the most unique of the season as Aaron Judge, who started the first 66 games of the season, was out of the starting lineup and the bottom of the order featured the unimposing trio of J.C. Escarra, Reyes and Oswald Peraza.

But it was Reyes, the seldom-used 31-year-old journeyman getting the start at second base with DJ LeMahieu also getting the night off, ending up with the team-awarded championship belt that goes to the hero of a given win.

Reyes, playing in just his 24th game of the season and hitting .179 coming into it, led off the eighth against ace Kansas City reliever Lucas Erceg with a sharp single to right. Judge, pinch hitting for Peraza, struck out looking at a borderline pitch, dropping the outfielder to 1-for-18 in his career as a pinch hitter. Trent Grisham grounded softly to second, which put Reyes on second and Ben Rice walked.

That brought up Paul Goldschmidt, who sent a liner off the top of a leaping Vinnie Pasquantino's glove at first, the ball trickling away. Pasquantino recovered and flipped to a covering Erceg, the ball arriving at the bag the same time as Goldschmidt. Reyes, meanwhile, had rounded third and lost his footing halfway, primed to be caught in a rundown. But he committed for home and, as he did, Erceg hesitated before throwing low to catcher Freddy Fermin -- the ball skittered away as Reyes dived awkwardly for the plate.

“There’s a little bit of panic because it’s late in the game, it’s the eighth inning and you definitely want to score there,” Reyes said through his interpreter of losing his balance. “A little bit of panic there and I heard Luis (third base coach Luis Rojas) say, ‘go,’ and I kept at it.”

Boone’s reaction when he saw Reyes stop halfway between third and home?

“Oh no,” the manager said with a smile.

Goldschmidt said he “thought for sure” it was a hit off the bat.

“I couldn’t believe Pasquantino got his glove on it,” Goldschmidt continued. “So then I was hustling to first.”

Jonathan Loaisiga retired the Royals in order in the bottom half and Devin Williams’ resurgence continued in a perfect ninth, the righthander striking out one in recording his ninth save.

Reyes made a terrific play in the seventh, though it was the second-best defensive play of the inning. With Tim Hill, who recorded the final out of the sixth in place of Will Warren, on the mound, Salvador Perez grounded one to the hole in short where Anthony Volpe – ala the player he grew up idolizing, Derek Jeter – fielded the ball on the grass and made an accurate jump-throw to first to clip the slow-footed DH. Jac Caglianone then chopped one to second where Reyes charged in, gloved it and, ball still in his glove, backhanded it to Goldschmidt at first.

“That was an unbelievable play. Didn’t know how he was going to get rid of that ball,” Goldschmidt said of Reyes’ flip. “Back-to-back great plays with Volpe’s play on Perez. We needed them all in such a close game.”

Nick Loftin walked and Boone brought in Mark Leiter Jr. to face Fermin, who singled to right to put runners at the corners. Leiter, however, got Kyle Isbel to fly softly to right.

Warren, 4-3 with a 5.34 ERA entering the night, had one of his better starts. The 25-year-old allowed four hits and one walk over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four.

Seth Lugo, always tough on the Yankees, allowed two hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings.

“We only scored one run tonight, obviously, but I thought we had a lot of good at-bats,” Boone said. “A number of guys in the lineup stung the ball, we just couldn’t break through. Some good at-bats there against Erceg to punch through.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.