KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With a chance to advance, the Yankees never had a doubt in their No. 1 starter.

The Royals roughed Gerrit Cole up in Game 1 of the ALDS, as the reigning Cy Young winner allowed four runs (3 earned), seven hits and 11-hard-hit balls over five innings on Oct. 5. The Yankees squeaked by with a win that night, but the Royals seemed to have a read on Cole following a long layoff between the end of the regular season and his first October outing.

Nevertheless, the Yankees had the utmost confidence in Cole taking the ball in Game 4 with a trip to the ALCS hanging in the balance.

“He’s our ace,” Aaron Judge said after the Yankees took a 2-1 series lead on Wednesday. “That’s who we want on the mound in any big game for us.”

Cole validated the captain’s faith on Thursday, shoving against the Royals for seven innings as the Yankees punched their ticket to the ALCS with a 3-1 victory in Kansas City. For Cole, it was his first postseason series-clinching win since joining the Yankees before the 2020 season.

Cole, who entered the evening with a 3.05 postseason ERA over 18 starts, allowed only one run while totaling six hits, zero walks, four strikeouts and 87 pitches.

Kansas City’s lone run off Cole came in the sixth inning when Vinnie Pasquantino doubled. The extra-base hit came after a benches-clearing skirmish earlier in the frame.

That incident began when Yankees first baseman Jon Berti fielded a Michael Massey grounder. Berti quickly stepped on first for a force out before firing to second. The Royals’ Maikel Garcia, running with his back turned to the force out, then slid hard and late into Anthony Volpe thinking he had to break up a throw to first.

Volpe reacted with a hard tag and a forearm to Garcia’s neck. Realizing the contact, Volpe quickly patted Garcia on the back to make amends, but things seemed to escalate when Garcia and Jazz Chisholm Jr., a target for Royals fans the last two games, began chirping.

No punches were thrown, but Kansas City reliever Angel Zerpa later stared down Gleyber Torres after a seventh-inning strikeout. Torres didn’t appear to notice.

Cole then returned for the seventh. His inning and night ended with a scare, as Kyle Isbel took Cole 370 feet to the right-field fence with a runner on base and the Yankees up two.

Luckily for the Yankees, Juan Soto caught the deep fly ball beneath windy conditions. As he did, Cole let out a fiery scream.

Earlier, in the first inning, Soto started the scoring for the Yankees with an RBI single. Torres added one of his own in the fifth. Giancarlo Stanton, the Bombers’ Game 3 hero, then did the same in the sixth.

With the Yankees returning to the ALCS — the point where their 2022 season ended — after missing the postseason in 2023, they are now awaiting the winner of the ALDS matchup between the Tigers and Guardians.

Either way, the Bombers will be considered favorites in the series. They’ll have home-field advantage, as well as a little extra rest with the Detroit-Cleveland series not ending until Saturday.

Game 1 of the ALCS will take place at Yankee Stadium on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:37 p.m.

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