The New York Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series on Wednesday night by beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 at Kauffman Stadium.

With the win, the Yankees are one win away from the ALCS, where they would face the Detroit Tigers or the Cleveland Guardians.

The game was tied at 2-2 until Giancarlo Stanton hit a huge home run in the top of the eighth inning to give the Yankees the lead. The oft-criticized star went 3-for-5 in the win.

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, his explosion also made team history not seen in the past dozen years.

Giancarlo Stanton’s HR is the first HR to put the Yankees ahead in the 8th inning or later (postseason) since Raul Ibanez in Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS.

Stanton, a former MVP Award winner, is in the 15th year of his career with the Florida Marlins and Yankees. He is a lifetime .257 hitter with 429 home runs. This season he hit .233 with 27 home runs. He has been plagued by his injury issues in recent years and has been a solid postseason contributor in his career. He is a .266 hitter in the playoffs with 12 home runs and 27 RBI.

As for Ibanez, he spent 19 years in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Angels. He spent three different stints with the Mariners (1996-2000, 2004-2008 and 2013).

He was one of the most productive M’s hitters of the past 30 years, hitting .279 in a Mariners uniform. He also hit 156 home runs with Seattle and drove in 612 runs. He never made an All-Star team with the Mariners, but did reach the Midsummer Classic with the Phillies in 2009 at the age of 37. That same year, he also reached the World Series with the Phillies.

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