Yankees Highlights: James Paxton dazzles and Austin Romine walks it off

And with that, the Yankees are back above .500! It took longer than expected, as the speed-laden Royals flashed some surprising power to slug their way back into this game, but the Yankees ultimately prevailed in dramatic fashion. This game was equal parts frustrating and thrilling, but for now, they have won three in a row, even as the awful news continues to pile up.

Winner of the Game

James Paxton and Austin Romine share our honors today. Coming off one of the finest starts of his career, Paxton kept rolling with another absolutely dominating performance. He struck out 12 more batters across six shutout frames, walking one batter and yielding just three hits. He’s struck out 24 batters over his last 14 innings. Meanwhile, Romine came up huge, tying the game in the eighth with a single and then winning the game with a walk-off in the tenth.

Loser of the Game

For most of the afternoon, I had little idea of who to choose for this category. Then, Chad Green entered. Green allowed a pair of tough-luck singles and a walk and was pulled in favor of Adam Ottavino without having recorded an out. Ottavino allowed a double and back-to-back homers, and a once-comfortable five-run advantage turned into a deficit within seconds. Given a large lead, the Yankees’ bullpen failed to close the deal, and instead helped push the game to extra innings, tiring out the unit in the midst of long stretch of games and ahead of a west coast trip. They did the team, and themselves, no favors today,

Chart

FanGraphs