Giancarlo Stanton hits go-ahead homer in the eighth, Yankees beat Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of the ALDS

— Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning amid a battle of the bullpens, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning amid a battle of the bullpens, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.

Stanton finished with three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who will turn to six-time All-Star pitcher Gerrit Cole on Thursday night with a chance to reach the American League Championship Series.

The Royals used four relievers before Kris Bubic took over for the eighth. The left-hander struck out Austin Wells before Stanton hit his 3-1 pitch nearly 420 feet to left to give New York the lead.

The Royals tried to answer off Luke Weaver in the bottom half, getting Bobby Witt Jr.‘s first hit of the series and a two-out single by franchise stalwart Salvador Perez. Weaver recovered to get Yuli Gurriel to fly out to end the threat, and he also handled the ninth to earn the save and cap 4⅓ scoreless innings by the New York bullpen.

The Yankees won despite another frustrating night in the postseason for MVP front-runner Aaron Judge. He went 0-for-4 with a walk, and is now 1-for-11 with only an infield single through three games against the Royals.

New York won with only four hits, the team’s fewest in a postseason win since 19 years ago to the day on Oct. 9, 2005, in the ALDS against the Angels (also four hits).

It helped that the powerful Yankees drew nine walks Wednesday night, giving them 22 for the series.

It was the first playoff game at the K in 3,268 days, since the Royals beat the New York Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series. They won their first title in 30 years a few days later in New York.

The first baseman on that Royals team, Eric Hosmer, was on hand to deliver the first pitch for a crowd that included Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Yankees had some good swings against Seth Lugo‘s dizzying array of nine pitches, but they had nothing to show for it early on.

Juan Soto flew out to center in the first on what would have been a homer in 17 ballparks. Judge followed with a liner snared by Witt at shortstop that had an exit velocity of 114 mph. And in the third, Gleyber Torres hit a ball to the warning track in right, moments after a review confirmed that his would-be RBI blooper down the line had landed foul.

The Yankees broke through in the fourth on Stanton’s double — Soto came around from first to score, though he might well have been out had Witt delivered a better relay throw to the plate. And in the fifth, Soto added a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

The Royals answered with two in the fifth. Kyle Isbel got them on the board with a two-out double to left, and Michael Massey ripped a sinking liner that somehow missed Soto’s glove in right for an RBI triple.

Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt was dinged for both runs on four hits and a walk in 4⅔ innings. Lugo went five for Kansas City, allowing two hits and walking four against the team that led the league in free passes this season.

Cole (8-5, 3.41 ERA) heads back to the mound Thursday night. He allowed four runs — three earned — over five innings in the opener Saturday night but got no decision in the 6-5 win for New York.

Royals right-hander Michael Wacha (13-8, 3.35 ERA) will face Cole again after pitching just four innings Saturday. He allowed three runs but was long gone by the time the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the seventh.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning — his latest clutch swing in an extraordinary season full of them — and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Edwin Diaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five division series, wrapping up a postseason series at home for the first time in 24 years.

Immediately afterward in a raucous locker room, the Mets had their first champagne-soaked clinching celebration in Citi Field’s 16-season history.

“This is the kind of stuff that I was dreaming about,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said in a clubhouse interview shown on the giant videoboard in center. “This has been a long time coming. We wanted it so bad for our fan base.”

After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego held a 2-1 lead in their NLDS heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night.

“Let’s keep this thing rolling!” Mets slugger Pete Alonso told reveling fans still in the stands when he popped out of the clubhouse party for an on-field interview with his large goggles protecting his eyes. “So proud of this group. We’ve overcome so much.”

For the NL East champion Phillies, who won 95 games and finished six ahead of the wild-card Mets during the regular season, it was a bitter exit early in the playoffs and a disappointing step backward after they advanced to the 2022 World Series and then lost Games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NLCS at home to Arizona.

After falling short again in October, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are still looking for the franchise’s third championship.

“We have a really great group. We got beat in a short series,” manager Rob Thomson said.

Perhaps overanxious at the plate with so much on the table, the Mets left the bases loaded in the first and second against starter Ranger Suarez and stranded eight runners overall through the first five innings.

They put three runners on again in the sixth, this time with nobody out, before No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez grounded into a force at the plate against All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman.

With the season on the line, Phillies manager Rob Thomson then summoned closer Carlos Estevez to face Lindor, who drove a 2-1 fastball clocked at 99 mph into Philadelphia’s bullpen in right-center, sending the sold-out crowd of 44,103 into a delirious, bouncing, throbbing frenzy.

With his first homer of these playoffs, Lindor joined Shane Victorino and Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome as the only major leaguers with two postseason grand slams. The star shortstop also connected for Cleveland at Yankee Stadium in Game 2 of a 2017 AL Division Series.

Edgardo Alfonzo hit the only other postseason slam in Mets history, during a 1999 Division Series at Arizona.

Fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” as Lindor disappeared into the dugout and again when he took his position on defense in the seventh.

Game 3 on Tuesday was Lindor’s first opportunity to play at Citi Field since Sept. 8, after he missed time down the stretch with a back injury.

But few players, if any, have been as valuable to their team this year as Lindor, who has provided a remarkable string of big hits and crucial contributions as the Mets rallied from a 24-35 start to their first NLCS since losing the 2015 World Series to Kansas City.

His tying homer in the ninth inning Sept. 11 at Toronto broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hit bid and sparked a critical Mets victory, and his go-ahead homer in the ninth on Sept. 30 in Atlanta clinched a postseason berth.

Lindor also fought back from a 1-2 count to draw an eight-pitch walk leading off the ninth against All-Star closer Devin Williams last week in Milwaukee, helping to set up Alonso’s go-ahead homer that saved New York’s season in the Wild Card Series clincher.

Mets starter Jose Quintana didn’t allow an earned run in five-plus innings of two-hit ball, and David Peterson pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

Díaz walked his first two batters in the ninth, prompting groans in the stands, but retired the next three — two on strikeouts — for the first postseason save of his career.

Shut down at the plate all series besides a late comeback to win Game 2 at home, the Phillies scored their only run on an error by third baseman Mark Vientos in the fourth.

Hoffman took his second loss, the latest flop by a Philadelphia bullpen that failed to deliver throughout the series.

“Some of it’s execution, maybe some of it’s being familiar with our guys,” Thomson said. “I don’t know. It should work both ways, though.”