Four Takeaways From New York Yankees Much-Needed Series Win Against Royals

Here are some key takeaways from a much-needed series win for the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals.

Apr 5, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez (left), center fielder Trent Grisham (middle), and right fielder Aaron Judge (right) celebrate in the outfield after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees were able to get back on track after some recent struggles with a series sweep against the Kansas City Royals.

After losing back-to-back sets against the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers, this was a much-needed series win for the Yankees. The icing on the cake was that they were able to sweep the Royals in a playoff rematch.

Even though the pitching has been a hot topic, the Yankees got some good performances from their starters and the bullpen did well also.

While the lineup didn’t have any massive games, they got timely hits when they needed to and, coupled with good pitching, New York earned three wins.

Here are four key takeaways from the series sweep against Kansas City.

The Martian Comes Up Clutch

With the Yankees trailing in game two, it was rookie outfielder Jasson Dominguez who proved to be the difference maker. With a bases-clearing three-run double, the talented rookie had arguably his best moment of the campaign so far.

Overall, the switch-hitting slugger is starting to put together a solid rookie year. Coming into the season, he was expected to be in the American League rookie of the year conversation, and big moments like that certainly help his case.

Williams Locks It Down

Heading into the series there was a lot of discussion about the struggles of Devin Williams and potentially replacing him as the closer for Luke Weaver. However, while the All-Star is off to a slow start, removing him from the role at this stage of the season would have been silly.

Against the Royals, Williams looked more like himself, notching two saves and allowing just two base runners in his two innings of work.  

Carrasco Delivers

The Yankees desperately needed one of their starting pitchers to step up for them, and veteran Carlos Carrasco was finally able to do just that.

In the victory in the first game of the series, the right-hander went five innings, allowing just one run and one hit.

It was the best performance of the year for Carrasco, and it came at a good time for New York. Hopefully, this will be a sign of things to come for him.

Fried Keeps Dominating  

One of the best free agent signings from this past winter has to be Max Fried for the Yankees so far. The left-hander has been better than advertised and earned his third win of the year in game two of the series.

Overall, Fried has now totaled a 3-0 record and 1.88 ERA in four starts. Quite possibly a reason for the improvement has been his ability to strikeout batters at a slightly higher rate.

With one of the best curveballs in baseball, the Yankees believed that he could get more strikeouts with it, and it’s paying off early on.