While the Royals were one of the hottest teams in August (20-9 record), the Yankees were one of the most resilient, as a rubber match against the defending World Series champions proved Wednesday in Kansas City.

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Home runs from Kendrys Morales and Eric Hosmer helped put the Royals up big early but the Yankees took advantage of a rare bullpen stumble by KC to tie the game. After Royals starter Ian Kennedy exited with a runner on first in the seventh inning, reliever Scott Alexander allowed Aaron Hicks to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Jacoby Ellsbury. 

The game remained tied until the 13th inning when the Yankees loaded the bases against Royals pitcher Chris Young and Brian McCann hit a sacrifice fly to score Didi Gregorius for the go-ahead run.

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With the 5-4 win, New York jumped the Royals in the AL wild-card race. It now sits two games out of the second wild-card spot currently held by the Tigers and the Orioles; the Yankees will face the latter in a three-game series beginning Friday.

Thanks in part to the hot hitting of rookie Gary Sanchez, the newly dubbed Baby Bombers finished August with a 17-11 record. 

Player of the Day

Rougned Odor led the Rangers to a 14-1 victory over Felix Hernandez and the Mariners. The Texas second baseman recorded his second straight three-hit game, which included two- and three-run home runs en route to a five-RBI performance.

Highlight

Rockies rookie Stephen Cardullo celebrated his 29th birthday in style with his second career home run, a grand slam to left-center against the Dodgers in Game 1 of a doubleheader. 

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Dodgers rookie Andrew Toles later flipped the script in Game 2 with a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth as the Dodgers rallied from a six-run deficit for a 10-8 win. 

Three things to know

— After being swept by the Indians, the Twins have lost 13 in a row, tying them with the 2015 Reds for the longest losing streak over the past three seasons.

— Behind Addison Russell’s stellar defensive play, the Cubs completed a sweep of the Pirates with a 6-5 win. The Cubs had six series sweeps in August. 

— Angels starter Ricky Nolasco needed just 94 pitches for a complete-game shutout of the Reds. Nolasco allowed four hits and four walks in the 3-0 win. It’s the third “Maddux” this season (complete-game shutout with 100 pitches or fewer, named in honor of Greg Maddux); the other two belong to teammate Jered Weaver and the A’s Kendall Graveman. 

What’s next

Marlins (67-66) at Mets (69-64), 7:10 p.m. ET: Making a start on extra rest, Jacob deGrom (7-7, 2.96 ERA) will look to help the Mets inch closer to the second wild-card spot with a win over Jose Urena (2-5, 5.83 ERA) and the Marlins. DeGrom has allowed 13 runs on 25 hits in his last two starts but is hopeful extra time spent working on his mechanics pays dividends. 

SPECTOR: Mets getting hot just in time

Giants (72-60) at Cubs (85-47), 8:05 p.m. ET: Entering on a recent hot streak, Jeff Samardzija (11-9, 4.00 ERA) hopes to tame his old club. “Shark” is 2-1 with a 1.75 ERA over his last four starts, including two scoreless outings. Mike Montgomery (4-5, 2.60 ERA) will oppose Samardzija on the hill in his third start with the Cubs.