New York Yankees vs Kansas City Royals Box Score on Aug 09, 2021

DJ LeMahieu's RBI double in the 11th inning gave the New York Yankees a lead they would not relinquish as they defeated the host Kansas City Royals 8-6 Monday night.

New York scored two more in the 11th on a single by Brett Gardner and a throwing error.

The Yankees tied a single-game major league record by blowing four save opportunities, squandering leads in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings. They matched the unwanted mark established by the Houston Astros on Sept. 28, 1995, against the Chicago Cubs.

The Royals scored one in the 11th but stranded the tying run on base, with Wandy Peralta earning his third save of the year, his first as a Yankee.

Each team scored single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. The Yankees' Luke Voit had an RBI single in the seventh, Aaron Judge had an RBI single in the eighth, and Voit hit a homer in the ninth. But the Royals answered each time.

Ryan O'Hearn's sacrifice fly tied it in the seventh. Andrew Benintendi and Nicky Lopez had RBI singles in the eighth and ninth, respectively.

The Yankees got two in the 10th on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Higashioka and a single by Gardner. The Royals tied it once again on a sac fly by Jarrod Dyson and a single by Hanser Alberto.

Clay Holmes (4-2) earned the win. Greg Holland (2-5) took the loss.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a 122 mph ground ball in the first inning that matched his own mark for the fastest exit velocity of a ball in play in the StatCast era (since 2015).

Neither starter factored in the decision. Kansas City's Carlos Hernandez allowed just one run on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. New York's Jameson Taillon gave up one unearned run on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six-plus innings.

Hernandez allowed just one hit through his first five innings. After LeMahieu tripled with one out in the second, Hernandez stranded him at third, and he retired the next 11 batters. Taillon allowed just two singles and struck out four in the first five innings. Both pitchers gave up singles in the sixth but worked around them with no damage.

The Yankees finally got to Hernandez in the seventh. Judge looped a one-out double to left. Joey Gallo's ground ball hit second base and caromed away from Lopez for a single. LeMahieu hit the ball back to Hernandez, who threw home to retire Judge, but Voit subsequently hit one through the hole at short, scoring Gallo.

The Royals got that run back in the bottom of the seventh. Emmanuel Rivera stroked a leadoff single, ending Taillon's night. Dyson pinch ran and moved to second on a wild pickoff attempt by reliever Jonathan Loaisiga and to third on a balk. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by O'Hearn.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing the balk call.

--Field Level Media