KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If baseball found a way to measure how often and how deeply an opponent gets demoralized, the Yankees would lead the league in the stat.
It is not just that they sailed past the Royals again, 11-5, at Kauffman Stadium.
And it is not just that they pushed their record to a major league-best 49-21 with their 12th victory in 14 games.
And it is not just that they moved to a surreal 17-1 against AL Central clubs this season.
It is that often this season, they rip out hearts before those hearts can begin believing.
Yet again, the Yankees jumped all over Kansas City pitching immediately with a six-run first inning, rendering most of the rest of Wednesday’s proceedings meaningless.
While taking the first three games of a four-game set, the Yankees have scored in each first inning and have totaled 10 runs in those first innings, which has translated to Aaron Boone’s bunch leading after all 27 innings of this series.
In all, the Yankees’ 57 first-inning runs this year are the most in baseball.
The hyped top three of Anthony Volpe-Juan Soto-Aaron Judge has somehow surpassed expectations.
Their opening jab can become a knockout.
Within minutes Wednesday, the Yankees all but ensured they would win their 16th of their past 17 completed series against the Royals.
Facing opener Dan Altavilla, Volpe singled up the middle. Soto drew a five-pitch walk.
Judge dropped a single into right field to load the bases.
After a Giancarlo Stanton strikeout, Alex Verdugo drilled a ground ball at and over the glove of first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, ruled a two-run single that bounded into right field.
A Gleyber Torres walk led to a pitching change, which led to an Anthony Rizzo sacrifice fly.
The finishing touch of the opening frame came off the bat of Jose Trevino, who lasered a three-run home run to left for a 6-0 edge and a bump to the catcher’s Theoretical Demoralization Added statistic.
Just in case the Royals had a thought of swinging their way back into the contest, the Yankees kept pounding in the middle innings.
Stanton, whose tape-measure home run to dead-center Tuesday measured 446 feet, went 3 feet deeper with a no-doubter to left in the fifth inning, the two-run shot his 17th homer of the season.
As the Yankees’ game ended, that mark was tied for the sixth-most in MLB.
Two innings later, it was Torres’ turn to get involved.
The second baseman, whose season began with such struggles, now owns a 19-game on-base streak and a one-game homering streak.
His three-run dinger off a hanging slider from Daniel Lynch IV ensured the Yankees would reach double digits for a second straight night.
They didn’t need much from Cody Poteet.
And when his night finally began — after the long, nine-batter top of the first — the righty did his job.
Poteet, filling a rotation spot after Clarke Schmidt went down and before Gerrit Cole returns from injury, was solid through 5 ¹/₃ innings in which he was charged with two runs on four hits and three walks.
Poteet, who represents starting depth, carries a 2.14 ERA in 21 major league innings.
Poteet faced the minimum through two and pitched out of trouble in the third, when he faced Bobby Witt Jr. with two on and induced an inning-ending pop-out.
He ran into a jam in the sixth, when Witt knocked an RBI double before Poteet walked Pasquantino. Ian Hamilton entered and allowed one inherited run to score on a sacrifice fly but struck out Nick Loftin to dodge further damage.
Kansas City added three runs in a seventh inning in which they threatened to show a pulse.
But with two on base, Nelson Velazquez smacked a sinking liner to center, Judge racing in and stealing a hit with a sliding grab.
The catch halted any momentum that the Royals hoped to seize.
The first inning represented all the momentum the Yankees needed.
