For the Kansas City Royals to engineer an ALDS comeback, they must fix this number

The Kansas City Royals have issued walks at an alarming rate and now find themselves on the brink of elimination.

On Wednesday, the Royals lost 3-2 to the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Divisional Series at Kauffman Stadium. The Yankees walked nine times en route to their second ALDS victory.

New York has collected 22 walks in the series. After Game 1, Royals manager Matt Quatraro said the free passes — the club issued eight walks — were uncharacteristic of his pitching staff.

However, Quatraro changed his tune after Wednesday’s game. The walks have now become an issue.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to them,” Quatraro said. “They’re not chasing, they’re not expanding, but we also have to do a better job of limiting those for sure.”

Royals starter Seth Lugo issued four walks in five innings. He narrowly escaped trouble after a single and two walks put him in a fifth-inning jam. Lugo was forced to face Yankees stars Juan Soto and Aaron Judge with runners in scoring position.

Soto hit a sacrifice fly and Judge flew out to end the inning. Still, Lugo had to throw extra high-stress pitches and it shortened his start.

“I tried to make quality pitches and, you know, some just got off the edge of the plate,” Lugo said. “Some I thought were there and some weren’t. Just didn’t give in and tried to make sure I kept the ball off the barrel.”

The Royals bullpen also struggled with its command. KC relievers John Schreiber, Sam Long, Kris Bubic and Michael Lorenzen combined for five walks. In the eighth inning, Bubic issued two walks to Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera.

Cabrera walked three times in the game. Both Soto and Volpe recorded two walks in their plate appearances.

“Sometimes, when you do fall behind in the count, you don’t want to screw one into hitters that are capable of leaving the ballpark,” Bubic said. “But at the same time, there is no excuse for walking guys, putting guys on and free passes. If they are going to put the ball in play or if they are going to hit the ball over the fence, you want to make them earn it.”

So how can the Royals fix their issues with walks?

Bubic believes the entire staff must be more aggressive in the strike zone. The strategy can force the Yankees to make earlier swing decisions at the plate.

“A lot of it is just getting in better counts and, you know, being aggressive from the first pitch of every at-bat,” Bubic said.

It will be important to neutralize the Yankees lineup. The visiting club puts an added emphasis on producing high-quality at-bats.

“That’s who we are. That’s our DNA,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s what we try to do. From day one in spring training, that’s what we talk about. And these guys go out and live that. It’s like we haven’t really broke through in a huge way yet, but we’re giving ourselves a lot of opportunities against a really good pitching staff.”

The Yankees led the majors this season with 672 walks.

The Royals now must limit those opportunities. Every pitcher knows the mistakes will be magnified in a win-or-go-home scenario on Thursday night.

And they know the first priority is to clean up the excessive walks.

“Just trust yourself in the (strike) zone,” pitcher Brady Singer said. “We have a really, really good bullpen and it’s been really good as of late. So just trust yourself in the zone and compete with your best stuff. And, like I said, go after them and attack them.”