Clarke Schmidt made a mistake, and a familiar, dejected murmur spread through the ballpark.
Schmidt had served up a three-run home run that put the Yankees in a two-run hole in the top of the fourth inning.
But as the Yankees try to launch a comeback in their season, Billy McKinney led a comeback Friday night.
McKinney responded with a three-run homer of his own in the bottom of the fourth, and both his bat and glove starred in a 5-4, series-opening win over the Royals in front of a sellout crowd of 46,242 in The Bronx.
The outfielder, who had been slumping, made two remarkable catches and hit his first homer in 15 games, giving the Yankees a lead they held, if narrowly.
“Billy with the big swing I think was settling for us,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees scored all their runs on three homers, following a disastrous three-game sweep in Anaheim earlier in the week in which they scored seven runs total.
The Yankees (51-47) snapped a four-game losing streak and awoke from a nightmarish, 1-5 road trip.
NEW YORK SPORTS THIS WEEK 