Gerrit Cole shines in Yankees’ 7-0 win over KC, his second stellar start since Tommy John surgery

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gerrit Cole struck out 10 while pitching into the seventh in a second stellar start since his return from Tommy John surgery, and the New York Yankees beat Kansas City 7-0 on Wednesday night to run their winning streak to 14 straight over the Royals.

Cole (1-0) threw 79 pitches over 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits without a walk. The superlative performance by the 35-year-old former Cy Young Award winner came after Cole had allowed two hits over six scoreless innings against Tampa Bay in his first major league start since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series against the Dodgers.

Ben Rice had three RBIs, Ryan McMahon hit a two-run homer and Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Judge also drove in runs, sending the Yankees to their second sweep of the Royals this season. New York has won 22 of its last 23 series against them overall.

Noah Cameron (2-4) pitched into the sixth inning for Kansas City, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk.

The Yankees were coming off a memorable 15-1 win Tuesday night in which they belted six homers and had 24 hits — and, in a first for one of the game’s historic franchises, every player in the New York starting lineup had at least two hits.

With Cole back on the mound, they only needed a fraction of that Wednesday night.

Goldschmidt got the offense going with a single in the fourth, and Rice delivered an RBI triple off the left-field wall on Cameron’s very next pitch. Judge brought him home with a sacrifice fly later in the inning, staking the Yankees to a 2-0 lead.

New York added three more runs in the seventh before McMahon’s homer in the eighth put the game away.

The closest the Royals came to scoring off Cole came in the third, when Michael Massey hit a one-out double. Isaac Collins struck out to bring up Maikel Garcia, who ripped a single to right. Judge fielded it cleanly and threw out Massey at the plate.