How many lead changes? Yanks come back to win historic back-and-forth affair

NEW YORK -- This American League Division Series was only a few days away, and Alex Verdugo still couldn’t speak with any authority about his role on the Yankees’ roster, responding with a verbal shrug. He had lost playing time in the final month of the regular season, and no certain answers seemed anywhere to be found.

As it turned out, Verdugo would not only be starting in the playoffs, but he would be starring. Verdugo delivered the final blow of a gritty back-and-forth opener, stroking a go-ahead single in the seventh inning that lifted the Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Royals in ALDS Game 1 on Saturday evening at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s not going to be our big guys that are always going to come through,” Verdugo said. “It’s going to take everybody. Every at-bat, every pitch in the playoffs matters. This is the kind of baseball that I love.”

Verdugo’s hit off Michael Lorenzen chased home Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a run that represented the fifth lead change of the game -- the most ever in a postseason contest, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It came after Chisholm stole second base on a call ruled to stand by a video review.

“I kind of blacked out at the moment he swung,” Chisholm said. “I was just going. I didn’t look at a stop sign, didn’t look at anything. I was just planning to score.”

In all best-of-five postseason series, the team that wins Game 1 has gone on to take the series 109 of 152 times (72%). In Division Series under the current 2-2-1 format, teams winning Game 1 at home have advanced 37 of 51 times (73%).

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Verdugo also saved at least one run with a sliding catch on a Michael Massey pop fly in the fourth, briefly juggling the baseball and securing it with his bare left hand. The play saw Verdugo make good on manager Aaron Boone’s hunch that the veteran could be a difference-maker in the postseason.

“He’s a really good all-around player,” Boone said. “He went through some stretches where it was a struggle, but that’s what he’s capable of. It’s not always what you did, it’s what you’re capable of doing moving forward.”

Boone had seemed to wrestle with the decision of playing Verdugo against top prospect Jasson Domínguez for days, though Verdugo indicated the call was made long before the first pitch of Friday’s game.

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Even though Verdugo slumped markedly in the second half and carried a 2-for-34 skid into the postseason, the Yankees weighed Verdugo’s previous playoff experience with the Red Sox, believing that the moment would not overwhelm him. They were right.

“I know the season didn’t go the way I should have really wanted it to go, but the ultimate goal at the end of the day was to get to the playoffs, and that’s where we are,” said Verdugo, who batted .233 with 13 homers and 61 RBIs in 149 games. “Now it’s time to really just go out there and ball out.”

Said Chisholm: “He lives for this. He’s played in big cities before ... he played in Boston, he played in L.A., and I’m not talking about the Angels, you know what I mean? For me, he’s been doing it. 'Dugie' is my guy.”

Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer in the third inning for the Yankees, who took advantage of four walks to score a couple of runs in the fifth. Austin Wells had a game-tying RBI single in the sixth, which set the stage for Verdugo’s deciding hit.

“I couldn’t be happier for him,” Wells said. “I knew he was going to come in here and bring the energy, bring the intent to do well today and throughout the whole playoffs. Having a guy like that in the back half of the lineup who can turn it over to the top, it’s very valuable.”

Could Friday’s success mean more playoff starts for Verdugo? He hopes so.

“I want to be out there with those guys every day,” Verdugo said. “I look forward to this. When the lights are brightest, that’s when we want to play.”

Gerrit Cole was not sharp, touched for four runs (three earned) and seven hits over five-plus innings. Tommy Pham lifted a second-inning sacrifice fly and MJ Melendez hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to highlight the attack against Cole, who walked two and struck out four.

“He gave us a chance to win on a night when it was a little bit of a grind,” Boone said.

Anthony Volpe threw away a potential double-play ball in the sixth inning that set up Garrett Hampson’s pinch-hit, two-run single off Tim Hill. But the Yankees’ bullpen was sharp from there, with an important contribution from Clay Holmes.

Like Verdugo, the second half was a slog for Holmes, who lost the closer’s job and finished the year with 13 blown saves to tie a single-season franchise record. October provides a new beginning for the right-hander, who permitted just one hit over 1 2/3 scoreless innings while setting up for Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver (four-out save).

“Especially in the postseason, you’re going to see contributions from people you don’t normally expect,” Cole said. “You’re going to see just kind of magical baseball. When guys like that have been going through it a little bit and come through in a big spot, it makes it that much sweeter.”