At this rate, Jasson Domínguez may pull the Martian out of his hat on Wednesday.
Because due to his first trick in this series, he had the best defensive game of the season on left field on Monday night.
Then, on Tuesday, the young switch hitter put on even more spells by closing the night of three hits with a clutch hit from his weak side.
Dominguez revived a quiet offense by lining up a three-run double that brought the Yankees to the Royals 4-2 in the stadium, batting right-handed against left-handed Angel Zelpa, who had bases and two outs in six innings.
Domínguez entered the night 20-1 against the left-hander this season, but literally it knocked off his helmet. It had loosened his contact lenses – jarled against Zerpa to clinch a series victory ahead of Wednesday’s finale.
“I’ve been struggling a bit from the right side, but I feel like I’ve made some improvements recently,” Dominguez said. “A very important moment in the game. You get a good pitch, put something on the plate and have a good swing.”
Domínguez has been batting .400 (30-30) as a left-handed batsman this season, but his right-handed swing was like a work in progress.
He believed he had gained more reps and improved more on time.
Entering the season, the 22-year-old’s two biggest knocks were his defense, with offensive production from the right side and moving full-time from center to left field.
Dominguez has to prove that both can be done over a long season, but on consecutive nights against the Royals (8-10), he at least began answering those questions.
“He’s extremely talented,” Max Fried said. “He’s young, but he’s working really hard. To be in this situation and take advantage of these opportunities, he’s creating really great theatre in the outfield, learning new positions, and then taking on really good, quality at-bats.
Michael Wacha had offensively held back the Yankees (10-7) in the first five innings.
They chased 2-0 and there was a guy with two outs in the sixth. Wacha walked on 10 pitches, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe, bringing life to the Yankees and 43,601 crowds.
Zelpa took part in the game and walked and ran through Austin Wells on four pitches.
He then left Dominguez 1-2 ahead of him, with the Martians turning on the inside, and a 96 mph fastball removed a double into the field corner on the left.
“It’s great that he got some results in big places,” manager Aaron Boone said. “His take, he doesn’t panic or rush. That’s one of the things you always love about him. So you know it’s not too big for him.”
Dominguez’s backswing hits the helmet and falls over his face, sacrificing his contacts as he escapes from the box.
It kicked him out of the game in the next half innings, but it could have helped the Yankees.
Trent Grisham took part in the match at center field (Cody Bellinger moves left for Dominguez) and almost immediately made an excellent running catch with a flyball on the gap at the seventh top.
Then, with two on and two outs, Luke Weaver entered from the bullpen and eased leadman Michael Garcia quickly retired to end the threat.
Following Weaver, Devin Williams retired the Royals’ orders in eight innings before closing it on his first clean outing as a Yankee.
“Jasson was obviously huge that came in,” Fried said. “But I thought it was a really great team effort.”
