Giancarlo Stanton brings the listless Yankees to life and gives them an ALCS win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Although he did the unthinkable and stole a base on Wednesday night, Giancarlo Stanton's lack of speed had cost the Yankees several scoring chances early in this series.

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

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

Stanton hit the game-winning shot so high that a handful of his teammates rushed out of the dugout onto the field and had been cheering for a few seconds when the ball finally landed behind the visitors' bullpen in left field.

Left-hander Kris Bubic threw a 3-1 bat under the zone and Stanton destroyed it 417 feet on the night, breaking a 2-2 tie and silencing a sellout crowd that spent most of the evening rousing to prepare for their first playoff game in nine years.

The Yankees bullpen made sure to hold up, continuing its strong streak by throwing 4 ¹/₃ shutout innings in relief of Clarke Schmidt – making it 13 ²/₃ innings without allowing an earned run in three games make possible.

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

Early Wednesday afternoon, at empty Kauffman Stadium, Stanton walked onto the field with some Yankees trainers to take batting practice on a pitching machine.

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

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

In the seventh, Aaron Judge again had a chance to deliver in a key moment, with Juan Soto getting the go-ahead run at first base with two outs.

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

But when he appealed, first base umpire Mark Carlson said Judge went around to end the inning.

The Yankees were frustrated early after a controversial call robbed them of a chance to take a 1-0 lead.

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

Replays showed the ball may have bounced off the chalk, prompting the Yankees to challenge the play, but after review the on-field decision stood.

Stanton gave the Yankees their first hit of the night in the fourth inning, ripping a bullet double off the left-center field wall and scoring Soto from the start – 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 scoring a run.

Follow the Post's coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:

Anthony Volpe battled back from a 2-0 score and secured a 3-2 pitch for a single up the middle before Oswaldo Cabrera drew a four-pitch walk.

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

Soto came next, lifting a sacrifice fly to midfield for a 2-0 lead, but Judge flew out and missed the chance to do more damage.

Schmidt went through most of four innings and then got two quick outs in the fifth before running into trouble.

It started with Adam Frazier hitting a ground ball to shortstop, but as the infield shifted, Volpe had to go a long way to reach it on the backhand before first unleashing a high throw over the head of Cabrera.

Still, Schmidt was just one hit away from completing five shutout innings when he threw a 3-2 cutter from the plate that No. 9 batter Kyle Isbel drilled into the left field corner to tie the game at 2-2. 1 to bring.

As Holmes warmed up in the bullpen, Aaron Boone stayed with Schmidt as the lineup turned for Michael Massey, who hit a 2-2 cutter off Soto's jumper in right-center field for a three-pointer that tied the game with Kauffman tied 2:0 equaled stadium rocks.