NEW YORK -- One evening after their clubhouse was transformed into the city’s most exclusive nightclub, the Yankees’ icy bats ensured that the fog machine and strobe lights remained unplugged.

Domingo Germán permitted a pair of early homers, and the bats were unable to respond in Thursday’s 6-1 loss to the Royals at Yankee Stadium, which saw the Yankees (8-10) fail to capitalize upon an opportunity to reach the .500 mark coming off their two-game sweep of the Red Sox.

“Anytime we lose and get shut down, it's always disappointing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It's always frustrating. We're trying to get this thing rolling as best we can, and a lot of guys right now I feel are contributing to the cause. Tonight, we just got shut down.”

One night after the Yankees were rescued by a Brett Gardner grand slam that helped to defeat Boston and sparked a pulsating dance party in the home clubhouse, the Yankees had no such magic in store. Homer Bailey and two relievers held New York to one run on four singles, with former Yankee Ian Kennedy recording the final four outs.

“[Bailey] had his splitter working pretty well today and kept guys off balance,” said Mike Ford, who went 0-for-3 with a walk in his Major League debut. “He pitched backwards a little bit. It's just one day; we'll come back tomorrow.”

German acknowledged that he did not have his best stuff, as the right-hander surrendered three runs through the first four innings, including solo homers to Jorge Soler and Ryan O’Hearn.

“I feel like I was able to make some good pitches there that they were able to take advantage of,” German said through an interpreter. “That's what happens at this level. You're facing good hitters, they were able to make adjustments and they hit a couple of homers.”

Still, German recovered to provide six innings for a quality start, striking out nine without a walk as he returned to the rotation following a one-turn absence. He induced 19 swinging strikes on 88 pitches (21.6 percent), tied for the second-highest total of his career, second only to 26 swinging strikes generated on June 14 of last season vs. Tampa Bay.

“I just wanted to give my team a chance,” German said. “I wanted to keep competing there and wanted to keep the game close.”

Luke Voit extended his career-high on-base streak to 29 games with a first-inning single, the longest active streak in the Majors and the lengthiest by a Yankee since Aaron Judge reached in 32 straight during the 2017 campaign. Clint Frazier knocked two hits for his second straight multi-hit game.

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Otherwise, Bailey was in command. The righty limited New York to Gleyber Torres’ first-inning sacrifice fly over six strong innings, scattering three hits and striking out six with a walk. Boone said that Bailey’s splitter was especially problematic.

“We were having a hard time laying off that pitch out of the zone,” Boone said. “When he's been good, that's a pitch that's really effective for him. He was keeping us honest with his fastball and able to throw strikes, but the split-finger was a really good pitch for him. We hit some balls hard against him, but for the most part he kept us pretty silent.”

Kansas City padded its lead with two runs off Jonathan Holder in the seventh. After striking out Lucas Duda for the first out, Holder surrendered a pair of hits, then left an 0-2 slider over the plate to Whit Merrifield that was stroked into the visiting bullpen for an RBI ground-rule double.

Adalberto Mondesi then greeted Zack Britton with a sacrifice fly, and lifted another facing Joe Harvey in the ninth to complete the scoring.

“It's tough. It's a job I know I can do,” Holder said. “I've been letting them down here lately, but I'm tirelessly working to perfect it and get out of those. I've got to put guys away with two strikes.”