KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With Andy Pettitte dealing and backed up by David Robertson and Mariano Rivera, the Yankees didn’t need smoke and mirrors Saturday night against the Royals.
After two subpar starts in which Pettitte believed his signature cutter had vanished only to realize through video it hadn’t, Pettitte handcuffed the Royals on the way to a 3-2 victory in front of a Kauffman Stadium crowd of 30,910.
“Obviously I had better command of my stuff,’’ said Pettitte, who gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings and improved to 4-2 with his first victory since April 19. “Early, I still didn’t think I was sharp with my curveball. I had a good cutter tonight and somewhat locating pretty good.’’
Not only did Pettitte, who is 15-3 in his career against the Royals, have to battle the Kansas City lineup, he had to work through two mistakes by plate umpire Mark Wegner.
In the third inning, Elliot Johnson reached first on an infield dribbler he fouled off his foot. Johnson scored on an infield ground out. In the fifth, Lorenzo Cain walked on three pitches when Wegner obviously lost track of the count.
“It was a tough day for me,” Pettitte said. “Elliot Johnson fouled a ball off his foot and scored and I know the [count] was 2-2. Everybody was looking at me like I was nuts. I was standing on the mound thinking I lost my mind.’’
Thanks to an unearned run in the third, when Chris Nelson led off with a double and scored, and Vernon Wells’ two-run homer in the fifth, the Yankees (22-13) scored enough runs off James Shields to give Pettitte, Robertson and Rivera enough support for the team’s fourth straight victory.
The walk to Cain that wasn’t a walk in the fifth put runners at first and second for Alex Gordon, but Pettitte responded by getting a ground ball to strand two runners.
The final out of the fifth started a stretch of seven straight outs for Pettitte, who turned a one-run lead over to Robertson.
He responded by striking out three in the eighth to get the game to Rivera.
Pitching for the first time in Kansas City since suffering a serious knee injury at Kauffman Stadium last year shagging batting practice fly balls, Rivera recorded two quick outs before Salvador Perez dropped a double inches inside the right-field foul line.
Rivera ended the threat by getting Mike Moustakas on a fly ball to Wells for his 14th save in 14 chances. It was the 70th time Rivera saved a victory for Pettitte.
“Our starters have been unbelievable and our bullpen guys are getting big outs,’’ Wells said.
In the last five games, Yankees relievers have not allowed a run in 14 ¹/₃ innings. In nine May games, the bullpen has given up three earned runs in 25 ²/₃ innings, issued six walks and fanned 27. Opposing batters are hitting .169 (15-for-89).
When Pettitte was spanked by the Astros and lasted only five innings against the Athletics in his previous starts, he said he believed his cutter had disappeared. Looking back, he said his troubles were caused by a bad arm angle.
“I didn’t think I threw a good cutter,’’ Pettitte said of the starts. “I threw a lot of good cutters in the last two games. It’s just that I made a lot of mistakes with it. I actually blew it way out of proportion to tell you the truth. The last start my arm angle was low for some reason, I have no idea. It was obvious on the video and I felt like I got back to my slot today.’’
george.king@nypost.com