New York Yankees @ Kansas City Royals: Gerrit Cole vs. Noah Cameron

It’s alive! The Yankees’ offense finally erupted Tuesday night and the result was absolutely beautiful. New York launched six home runs, every starter recorded at least two hits (a first in franchise history), and the Yankees buried Kansas City early in a historic offensive explosion. The Bombers reached base 29 times on 24 hits and completely overwhelmed the Royals in a 15-1 thumping. Now they will look to do it again tonight.

Speaking of tonight, the Yankees hand the ball to Gerrit Cole looking to complete the sweep. After missing all of 2025 and the opening portion of this season, Cole made his season debut against Tampa Bay last week returning like a knight after a long journey. Cole tossed six scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out two across an efficient 72-pitch outing.

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Perhaps most importantly, the right-hander looked comfortable, albeit a little rusty, and mostly in control throughout the night, limiting hard contact while posting a tidy 0.83 WHIP in his return. That is a good sign for the Yankees long-term considering how important Cole remains to the ceiling of this roster. Each early start will be under a microscope to make sure the stuff keeps ticking back towards normal. It is so nice to see Cole pitch again; here’s to hoping the train keeps picking up steam coming down the tracks in Kansas City!

The Royals will counter with left-hander Noah Cameron, who enters tonight with a 2-3 record and a 4.72 ERA. The 25-year-old has shown decent swing-and-miss ability with 44 strikeouts already this season, though the Yankees will hope their suddenly awake lineup can continue building momentum against another southpaw starter.

The Royals enter tonight at 22-33 and are searching for answers offensively. Kansas City managed just one run Tuesday night, coming on a solo home run from superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Beyond Witt, however, the lineup has struggled to consistently generate offense during a disappointing start to the season. If the summer sun does not heat the Royals up soon, they might be a club to keep tabs on for trade deadline purposes.

On the offensive side for the Yankees, Paul Goldschmidt gets the leadoff assignment tonight and is followed by the Yankees’ big three of Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger. Amed Rosario also earns another start following his huge night, this time slotting in at second base in place of Jazz Chisholm Jr. After getting a teaser during last night’s blowout, José Caballero gets the start in left field tonight while Ryan McMahon rejoins the lineup at third base.

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When the offense explodes like it did Tuesday night, it may feel fair to question why the “run it back” Yankees would not simply roll out the same lineup again. However, with an offday tomorrow and a flight further west looming, Aaron Boone is clearly trying to keep his finger on the pulse of this roster while balancing rest and momentum.

For the Yankees, tonight feels like an opportunity to keep stacking momentum like poker chips. The offense finally broke loose, the bullpen’s regulars got the night off, and now the Yankees have one of the best competitors in baseball on the mound for his second start of the season with a sweep in hand if they can win their 14th straight game over Kansas City.

How to watch:

Location: Kauffman Stadium — Kansas City, MO

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First pitch: 7:40 pm EDT

TV Broadcast: Amazon Prime Video | Royals.TV

Radio Broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | 96.5 The Fan, Royals Radio Network (KC)

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