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 was a lifelong .272 hitter who hit 305 career home runs. He hit a career-high 34 home runs in 2009 and also drove in more than 100 runs in four different seasons.

He made Philadelphia’s All-Star team in 2009 and helped them advance to the World Series that season, where they lost to the Yankees.

He played for the Mariners, Royals, Phillies, Yankees and Angels.

Game 4 of the ALDS is Thursday evening.

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