KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning amid a bullpen battle, and the New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday night.

Stanton finished the game with three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who will turn to six-time All-Star pitcher Gerrit Cole on Thursday night with a chance to win the American League championship to achieve series.

“We have to finish it tomorrow. No wiggle room,” Stanton said. “We have to do it.”

In a game dominated by pitching, the Royals used four relievers before starter-turned-bullpen ace Kris Bubic took over for the eighth time. He struck out Austin Wells before Stanton hit a 3-1 pitch nearly 420 feet over left field to give New York the lead.

“He’s done it his entire career with us,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought Bubic’s attack was simply phenomenal. I think he went there to cause harm, exactly that.”

The Royals attempted to counter Luke Weaver in the bottom of the eighth by getting Bobby Witt Jr.'s first hit of the series and a two-out single from franchise star Salvador Perez. But the unflappable Weaver recovered and struck out Yuli Gurriel, then struck out the ninth to get the save and cap 4⅓ scoreless innings by the New York bullpen.

Yankees relievers have not allowed an earned run in 13⅔ innings this postseason.

“I think that’s been one of our strengths all year, if not our main strength,” Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt said.

Far less successful for New York is Aaron Judge, the leading candidate for AL MVP. The big slugger's postseason blunders continued with an 0-for-4 night, leaving Judge 1-for-11 with just one infield single in three games against the Royals.

He had one of the Yankees' nine walks on Wednesday night, giving them 22 for the series.

“You have to be careful of them,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “They don’t hunt. They don't expand. But we definitely have to do a better job of limiting them.”

The Yankees won by just four hits, the team's fewest postseason wins in exactly 19 years, on October 9, 2005, in the ALDS against the Angels (also four hits).

It was the first playoff game at Kauffman Stadium in 3,268 days, since the Royals defeated the Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series; A few days later they won their first title in 30 years in New York. Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer was on hand to deliver the first pitch to a crowd that included Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Yankees had some good at-bats against Seth Lugo's dizzying string of nine pitches with nothing to show for it early on.

Juan Soto flied out to center in the first inning, which would have been the equivalent of a 17-furlong home run. Judge followed with a liner that Witt caught off a shortstop with an exit velocity of 114 mph. In the third, Gleyber Torres hit a ball to the warning track in right, shortly after a review confirmed his potential RBI fumble at the line had drawn a foul.

The Yankees prevailed in the fourth on Stanton's double – Soto scored first, although he might have been eliminated if Witt had hit a better relay shot at the plate. And in the fifth, Soto added a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

The Royals responded with two goals in the fifth period, causing an uproar in the crowd. Kyle Isbel got them on the board with a two-out double to left, and Michael Massey ripped a sinking liner that somehow missed Soto's glove to right, leading to an RBI triple.

That was the last hit until Stanton's home run helped push New York to the brink of the ALCS.

“He has done it with us throughout his career. I thought the attack against Bubic was simply phenomenal. I think he went there to cause harm, exactly that.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone on Giancarlo Stanton

“They're great guys coming out of the box – they've got great starters – so it's not easy,” Boone said. “I feel like even in the second game where we only scored two goals, we gave ourselves a lot of chances with plate discipline in the first couple of games. Hopefully we can really break through in one of these games.”

Schmidt was struck out for two runs on four hits and a walk in 4⅔ innings for the Yankees. Lugo made five appearances for Kansas City, allowing two hits and scoring four goals against the team that led the league in free passes this season.

Cole (8-5, 3.41 ERA) returns to the mound on Thursday night. He allowed four runs – three earned – over five innings in Saturday night's opener but failed to make a decision in New York's 6-5 win.

Royals right-hander Michael Wacha (13-8, 3.35 ERA) will face Cole again on Saturday after pitching just four innings. He allowed three runs, but was long gone by the time the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the seventh.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.