After a 2-7 road trip, the last thing the Royals wanted to do was come home and face the New York Yankees for four games. Thursday night, the Royals came up short losing 4-3.

Down 4-1, the Royals chased Yankees starter CC Sabathia with two outs in the ninth after the Royals got two runners on. Alex Gordon and Mike Aviles, who singled in the Royals’ only run up to that point, each reached base with one out singles. After a fielder’s choice, the Royals had runners on first and third with two outs. Mitch Maier moved up to second and Yanks’ manager Joe Girardi made a gutsy call turning the ball over to David Robertson to try to close out the game.

Mariano Rivera had been overworked and was given the night off. Willie Bloomquist delivered a two run double, but was left stranded at third after Wilson Betemit reached on an infield single and Jason Kendall struck out.

Royals’ starter Bruce Chen pitched five innings and gave up three of the four runs which included a solo homer from Austin Kearns. The big guy Sabathia held up pretty well in the heat. He threw 110 pitches and the Royals got to him for the three runs as C.C. allowed ten hits and two walks, but the Royals couldn’t cash in until it was too late.