At this rate, Jasson Domínguez might just pull a martian out of his hat on Wednesday.
Because for his first trick in this series, he had his best defensive game of the season in left field on Monday night.
Then on Tuesday, the young switch-hitter delivered some more magic by coming through with a clutch hit from his weaker side to cap off a three-hit night.
Batting right-handed against lefty reliever Angel Zerpa with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning, Domínguez revived a quiet offense by lining a three-run double that lifted the Yankees to a 4-2 win over the Royals at the Stadium.
Domínguez entered the night 1-for-20 against lefties this season, but provided a big swing — literally, it knocked his helmet off — against Zerpa to clinch the series victory ahead of Wednesday’s finale.
Michael Wacha had held the Yankees (10-7) down offensively through the first five innings, with it looking like they might waste another strong start from Max Fried.
They trailed 2-0 and had a man on first base with two outs in the sixth when Wacha walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe on a combined 10 pitches, breathing life into the Yankees and the crowd of 43,601.
Zerpa entered the game and walked Austin Wells on four pitches to force in a run.
Then he got ahead of Domínguez 1-2, only for “The Martian” to turn on an inside, 96 mph fastball for a bases-clearing double into the left field corner.
Coming into the season, the two biggest knocks on Domínguez were his offensive production from the right side and his defense while transitioning from center to left field full-time.
He will have to prove he can do both over the course of the long season, but on back-to-back nights against the Royals (8-10), he at least began to answer those questions.
Coming off a gem last week against the Tigers when he tossed seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, Fried was almost as sharp on Tuesday.
Continuing to pitch like the ace the Yankees need him to be, the left-hander gave up two runs across 6 ²/₃ innings while striking out seven.
After Domínguez put the Yankees up 4-2, the Royals threatened against Fried in the top of the seventh.
But Trent Grisham, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in center with Cody Bellinger moving to left for Domínguez, helped save him with a terrific running catch on the warning track for the first out.
Then, with two on and two outs, Luke Weaver entered from the bullpen and quickly retired leadoff man Maikel Garcia to end the threat.
Weaver followed by retiring the heart of the Royals order in the eighth inning before Devin Williams closed it out with his first clean outing as a Yankee.
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