J.J. Picollo was mere weeks into taking over as Kansas City’s top baseball decision maker. This, he knew, he had to get right. What Picollo wanted wasn’t necessarily someone he knew or had worked with, often the case in professional baseball hirings. For Kansas City to truly transform, it had to get uncomfortable.

New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins.