KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Despite pulling off the unthinkable and stealing a base on Wednesday night, Giancarlo Stanton’s lack of speed had cost the Yankees several chances to score earlier this series.

It turns out that it doesn’t matter at all how well the veteran designated hitter moves as he trots around the bases after crushing a moonshot.

Stanton took advantage of his postseason form and hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to lift the Yankees to a 3-2, Game 3 victory over the Royals and a 2-1 lead in the ALDS at Kauffman Stadium.

Stanton skied the decisive blast so high that a handful of his teammates rushed from the dugout onto the field and had been celebrating for a few seconds by the time the ball finally landed behind the visiting bullpen in left field.

Lefty Kris Bubic threw a 3-1 slider under the zone and Stanton demolished it 400 feet deep on the night, breaking a 2-2 tie and silencing a sellout crowd that spent most of the night gearing up for the first play-off game in nine years.

The Yankees bullpen kept it afloat and continued its strong streak by throwing 4 ¹/₃ shutout innings in relief of Clarke Schmidt – making it 13 ²/₃ innings without an earned run in allowing three games .

Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle each recorded four outs before Luke Weaver scored five for the save, putting the Yankees one win away from advancing to the ALCS entering Game 4 on Thursday night.

Early Wednesday afternoon in an empty Kauffman Stadium, Stanton walked onto the field with a few Yankees coaches to take batting practice off a pitching machine.

The extra work immediately paid off, as Stanton went 3-for-4 with the game-winning home run and an RBI double, plus a surprise stolen base.

Schmidt and Seth Lugo dueled early before both handed the ball to their bullpen and the game was tied 2-2 after five innings.

In the seventh, the game found Aaron Judge with another opportunity to create a big moment, with Juan Soto representing the go-ahead run at first base and two outs.

Judge fell behind 0-2 before working to 3-2, then tried to check his swing on a low-and-outside slider.

But after an appeal, first base umpire Mark Carlson said Judge went around to end the inning:

The Yankees became frustrated early after a controversial call denied them a chance to take a 1-0 lead.

With a runner on first base and two outs in the third inning, Gleyber Torres cut a bloop down the right field line that was called foul by right field umpire Ryan Blakney.

Replays showed the ball possibly hitting the chalk, causing the Yankees to challenge the play, although upon review the call remained on the field.

Stanton delivered the Yankees’ first hit of the night in the fourth inning, ripping a double shot off the left-center field wall and scoring Soto all the way from first – with some help from an off-target relay throw to the plate from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. – for the 1-0 lead.

The Yankees doubled their lead in the fifth by producing a run.

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Anthony Volpe battled back from an 0-2 count to single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch before Oswaldo Cabrera walked.

Alex Verdugo then advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, which Torres followed with a walk to load the bases.

Soto came next and made a sacrifice fly to center field for the 2-0 lead, but Judge flew out and missed an opportunity to do more damage.

Schmidt mostly got through four innings, then got two quick outs in the fifth before running into trouble.

It started with Adam Frazier hitting a ground ball to the shortstop, but when the infield shifted, Volpe had to run a long way to make the backhand before first unleashing a high throw over Cabrera’s head.

Still, Schmidt was one strike away from completing five shutout innings when he threw a 3-2 cutter off the plate that No. 9 hitter Kyle Isbel drilled into the left field corner to make it a 2-1 game.

While Holmes warmed up in the bullpen, Aaron Boone stayed with Schmidt as the lineup flipped for Michael Massey, who drilled a 2-2 cutter past Soto’s dive into right-center field for a triple that tied the game at two, with Kauffman Stadium rocking .