Gerrit Cole's gem takes the New York Yankees past the Kansas City Royals and back into the ALCS | MLB

Gerrit Cole pitched like a postseason ace on Thursday night, holding the Kansas City Royals to a single run over seven innings and giving the New York Yankees a 3-1 victory that sent them back to the American League Championship Series.

The six-time All-Star handed out six hits and struck out four before handing the ball to New York's bullpen, which dominated a tense AL Division Series. Clay Holmes pitched a perfect eighth inning and Luke Weaver pitched the ninth inning, extending the Yankees relievers' scoreless streak this postseason to 15 and two-thirds innings.

New York will play Cleveland or Detroit of the ALCS starting Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

“Proud of these guys,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We can play for it now and we’re happy about it.”

Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres and Game 3 star Giancarlo Stanton drove in runs for the Yankees, who fittingly secured a spot in their fourth ALCS in eight years on the road. They won 50 away games during the regular season, the most in 21 years.

Michael Wacha failed to last five innings for Kansas City, allowing two runs, six hits and a walk. A sluggish offense that managed just five runs total in the final three games of the series didn't help him much.

“In 2023, our season here ended, you know? “We didn’t make the postseason,” said Aaron Judge, who helped New York reach the finals. “I remember a lot of these guys looking on the field, and you know, we all kind of came together and said, 'This isn't going to happen again.'”

Kansas City didn't win a home game after September 8th and lost nine straight times, including the playoffs.

Still, it was a remarkable turnaround for a club that went from 106 losses a year ago to making its first postseason appearance since winning the 2015 World Series. And with young stars like Bobby Witt Jr. signing long-term deals, there's hope in Kansas City that this was a beginning rather than an end.

“I really feel sorry for the guys in the room,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said, “because as you know, seven, eight months of the year, they just give it their all and give every ounce of effort and energy that they have .”

New York set the tone from the start and, like in the series opener, pounced on Wacha. Torres hit the veteran right-hander's first pitch for a double, and Soto followed with an RBI single on just the third pitch of the night.

Anthony Volpe kept the pressure on with his single in the fifth. And after Alex Verdugo grounded into a forceout and Jon Berti hit a single to put runners on the corners, Torres added a two-out single to make it 2-0 and end Wacha's night.

Meanwhile, Cole only seemed to get stronger the more innings he completed.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner retired his first six batters, worked around a leadoff single in the third and retired eight more in the fifth before Tommy Pham singled. Cole immediately struck out Kyle Isbel in three pitches to end the inning.

“It was a great fight,” Cole said. “Just a great fight.”

Stanton, who hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of Game 3, extended the lead to 3-0 with his single in the sixth inning before tensions simmered all night – and throughout the series – after the third baseman of the Yankees, Jazz Chisholm Jr., called The Royals' victory in Game 2 was “lucky” – it boiled in the bottom half. Volpe hit Maikel Garcia hard at second base to complete a double play, and the Royals third baseman took offense. Players streamed out of both dugouts before order was restored.

“I just felt like (Garcia) was trying to hurt Volpe because he was a sore loser,” Chisholm said. “I didn't like that. I told him we’re not going to do that on this side and I’m going to stand up for my boys.”

However, the near-riot nearly set Kansas City on fire. Witt, who had been 1 for 15 in the series, followed with a base hit and Vinnie Pasquantino – who had been 0 for 14 – had an RBI double. But as the sellout crowd of 39,012 at Kauffman Stadium suddenly became excited, Cole got Salvador Perez to lazily skip to second base to end the inning.

Cole's night ended after he got Isbel to fly to the warning track with a runner on board to end the seventh, a shot from deep into right field that would have been the game-winning home run if he had scored in that part of Yankee Stadium would have been hit.

New York's bullpen did the rest.

“We are in a good place. That doesn’t mean we’re okay,” Stanton said. “We are here to win. Nobody wants to be on the losing side. Imagine what Kansas City feels like right now. Nobody wants to feel like that. We have the ability to keep it going, but that’s an understandable reality that we have to take care of business.”