KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Interstat) — Anthony Volpe delivered a two-run single in the ninth inning to lift the New York Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, extending the Yankees’ winning streak against the Royals to 12 games.

The comeback spoiled a strong start by Kansas City’s Michael Wacha and erased a go-ahead home run by Bobby Witt Jr. in the eighth inning. New York improved to 32-22, while Kansas City fell to 22-32.

Will Warren started for the Yankees and turned in a solid outing, allowing two runs on three hits over six innings with three strikeouts. The right-hander, who had won his previous two starts, exited with the game tied 2-2. Warren worked around early traffic and kept the Royals off balance, retiring nine of the last 10 batters he faced before handing the ball to the bullpen.

Kansas City countered with Wacha, who matched Warren pitch for pitch. Wacha tossed seven innings, surrendering two runs on five hits while striking out five. He allowed a solo home run to Cody Bellinger in the second inning and a run-scoring single by Jose Caballero in the same frame, but otherwise kept the Yankees’ lineup in check. Wacha departed after the seventh having thrown 97 pitches, with the score still tied.

The Yankees struck first in the top of the second. With one out, Bellinger launched a 1-0 fastball from Wacha into the right-center-field seats for his seventh home run of the season, giving New York a 1-0 lead. After Paul Goldschmidt grounded out, Jazz Chisholm Jr. flied out to left. But Anthony Volpe drew a walk, and J.C. Escarra followed with a sharp line-drive single to left, moving Volpe to third. Caballero then lined a single to center, scoring Volpe and sending Escarra to third. The inning ended when Trent Grisham grounded out to first, but the Yankees had a 2-0 advantage.

Kansas City answered in the bottom of the second. Salvador Perez drew a walk after a challenge overturned the initial call. Carter Jensen flied out, but Jac Caglianone and Isaac Collins both walked to load the bases. Michael Massey then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Perez and cutting the deficit to 2-1. Kyle Isbel flied out to left in foul territory to end the inning.

Both pitchers settled in over the next three innings. New York threatened in the third when Aaron Judge doubled with one out, but Ben Rice grounded out to second and Bellinger popped out. Wacha then retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth, working around a leadoff walk to Chisholm in the fourth by inducing a double play. Warren matched him, allowing only a two-out single to Maikel Garcia in the fifth before striking out Witt to end the frame.

The Royals tied the game in the sixth. With one out, Perez launched a 2-1 pitch from Warren to left-center field for his ninth home run of the season, knotting the score at 2-2. Carter Jensen flied out to right and Caglianone struck out swinging to end the inning.

Wacha pitched a perfect top of the seventh, striking out Volpe and getting Escarra and Caballero to line out. In the bottom of the seventh, the Royals mounted a threat against Yankees reliever Brent Headrick. Isaac Collins popped out, but pinch-hitter Nick Loftin doubled to center. After a Lane Thomas flyout moved Loftin to third, Headrick was replaced by Jake Bird. Bird got Maikel Garcia to ground out to shortstop, ending the inning and keeping the game tied.

The game turned in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Witt stepped in against Bird and crushed a 1-0 pitch down the left-field line, just inside the foul pole, for his eighth home run of the season. The solo shot gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead. Vinnie Pasquantino walked, but Bird struck out Perez and Carter Jensen struck out on a foul tip. Starling Marte grounded out to third to end the inning, but the Royals had seized momentum.

New York answered immediately in the top of the ninth against Royals reliever Lucas Erceg. Bellinger grounded out to second for the first out. Paul Goldschmidt then broke his bat on a soft pop-up that fell in front of shortstop Witt, legging out a single. After a pitching change, Daniel Lynch IV entered but promptly served up a double to Jazz Chisholm Jr. that rolled to the right-field wall, scoring pinch-runner Max Schuemann from first to tie the game at 3-3. Chisholm took third on the throw. Volpe then lined a single to left field, driving in Chisholm with the go-ahead run. Volpe was thrown out trying to advance to second on the throw home, but the Yankees had taken a 4-3 lead. Escarra followed with a soft ground-ball single off Erceg, but Caballero popped out to end the inning.

David Bednar worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 12th save of the season. He retired Isaac Collins on a groundout, Nick Loftin on a popout, and after walking Lane Thomas, got Maikel Garcia to ground out to third to end the game.

Tim Hill earned the win, pitching two-thirds of an inning without allowing a hit or a run. Hill improved to 2-2. Erceg took the loss, falling to 3-2. Bednar’s save was his 12th of the season.

Key performers for New York included Bellinger, who went 1-for-4 with a home run, and Warren, who allowed two runs over six innings with three strikeouts. For Kansas City, Wacha pitched seven innings of two-run ball, and Witt went 1-for-4 with a home run. Salvador Perez also homered for the Royals.

The game lasted 2 hours, 28 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 26,162.

The Yankees will continue their road trip Tuesday with the second game of the series at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals will look to snap their losing streak against New York.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of New York 4, Kansas City 2. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Yankees a 58.80 percent probability of winning. New York was installed as a pregame favorite at -1.5 on the run line. The total of seven runs went over the over-under line of nine.