NEW YORK -- If by some chance the Royals and Yankees face each other in the postseason, it’s going to be a battle. On Wednesday night, fans at Yankee Stadium may have seen a glimpse of what could happen in October.

The game had that playoff atmosphere, similar to when the teams met in the American League Championship Series during the late 1970s and in 1980. In fact, the game wasn’t decided until the 11th inning, when New York edged Kansas City, 4-3.

The Royals lost two out of three games against the AL East-leading Yankees. Kansas City is in possession of the second AL Wild Card spot, 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota. The Royals also are 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central, with 15 games left in the regular season.

“I don’t think [the Yankees] are any better than us,” said left-hander Cole Ragans, who pitched six solid innings and took over the AL lead in strikeouts (211). “We believe in ourselves. I think we are a good team, a playoff team. They are a good team. They are a playoff team. It’s a good matchup. It was a good three games. Tonight, we took them to the 11th inning.”

With the game tied at 3 and one out in the bottom of the 11th, the Yankees had runners at second and third against left-hander Kris Bubic. Jazz Chisholm Jr. came to the plate and hit a ground ball between shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and third baseman Maikel Garcia. Witt was able to make a diving grab of the ball and tried to get Jon Berti at the plate, but the improbable throw was wide and the Yankees won the game.

“I was really pleased that [Chisholm] didn’t get too big. He kept it real simple,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He got it off the barrel to get it just enough out of the reach of Witt there. Just a real quality at-bat in that situation.”

Although Witt didn’t get the out, it provided another example of why he’s considered a candidate for the AL MVP Award in his third Major League season.

“Bob is incredible at what he does, not just at the plate, but in the field, on the bases,” Ragans said. “Behind the scenes, he is an incredible player, an incredible human. We get the joy of watching him every single day. It’s incredible.”

Said Royals manager Matt Quatraro: “I’m glad people are seeing what our players do, and we don’t take it for granted."

It looked like the Royals were going to prevail with another dominant performance from Ragans, who retired 15 of the first 18 hitters he faced and had a 1-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth. Then Ragans found himself behind by a run when he allowed a two-run home run to Juan Soto, who fouled a ball off his right ankle two pitches earlier.

An inning later, with former closer Clay Holmes on the mound for New York, the Royals tied the game at 2 when Kyle Isbel scored on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez, who ended up going 7-for-9 with six RBIs for the series.

“One thing that has been impressive this year is -- most of the year -- his selectivity has been better than it has been historically,” Quatraro said about Perez. “He understands where he is in the order. He understands what other teams are going to do to him, and he handles it.”

But it wasn’t just Perez’s offense on display; his defense at first base was a sight to see -- for a guy who is considered a future Hall of Fame catcher.

In the seventh inning with the score tied at 2, the Yankees had runners on first and second when Jose Trevino came to the plate and hit a chopper at Perez. The first baseman appeared to miss a tag on Trevino coming up the line, but he was able to throw out Anthony Volpe, who hesitated when rounding third base, at the plate. After the Royals challenged, replays showed that Perez grazed Trevino with the tag, and it was ruled a double play to end the threat.

“It’s just instincts. You don’t have time to think about what’s going on. It happened so fast,” Perez said.

It’s approaching the middle of September, and the postseason implications made for an intense game.

“It was tight. It was well-pitched on both sides,” Quatraro said.