Yankees 11, Royals 6
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Lyle Overbay had four hits, including three extra-base hits, and drove in five runs as the New York Yankees pounded the Kansas City Royals 11-6 Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Overbay's first career four-hit game included a home run and two doubles off Kansas City starter Wade Davis (2-3). Overbay also collected an RBI single in the top of the ninth against J.C. Gutierrez. Davis gave up seven runs on seven hits through five-plus innings.
Phil Hughes (2-2) labored through 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win. He gave up six earned runs on seven hits.
Davis had entered the game on a streak of 5 2/3 hitless innings against the Yankees, all in relief last year with Tampa Bay. But after a 1-2-3 first, the Yankees unloaded on Davis in the second.
Travis Hafner coaxed a lead-off walk before Ichiro Suzuki sent the first pitch into the right-field bullpen for a 2-0 lead. Jayson Nix then followed with a double that one-hopped the wall in left, and Overbay hit the second two-run home run of the inning.
The Royals answered quickly. Hughes gave up a lead-off walk to Eric Hosmer in the bottom of the second, followed by a single by Salvador Perez. After striking out Mike Moustakas and Elliot Johnson, Hughes served up a 2-2 fastball to Jarrod Dyson, who hit his first home run in more than two years to cut the lead to 4-3.
Overbay added to the Yankees' lead in the fourth with an RBI double to left center that scored Nix.
Alex Gordon tied the score in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run double, scoring Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain who stroked consecutive singles. It gave Gordon a league-best 16 multihit games.
But Overbay wasn't done. After Suzuki led off the sixth with a double and Nix followed with a single, Overbay greeted reliever Bruce Chen with a double off the right-field fence, scoring Suzuki. Chris Nelson then singled in Nix and Overbay to give the Yankees an 8-5 lead.
Brett Gardner had an RBI triple and Robinson Cano drove him home with a single in a five-run sixth inning.
Moustakas homered with one out in the bottom of the sixth.
NOTES: Dyson's last home run was off Minnesota's Kevin Slowey on September 27, 2010, a span of 376 at bats. ... The Yankees reached double-digits in runs for the first time since a 14-1 victory at Cleveland on April 9. ... The Royals are now 12-4 after 16 home games in 2013. At this point last season, they were 3-13, including beginning the season with a 10-game losing streak at Kauffman Stadium. ... Yankees OF Curtis Granderson began his rehab assignment Thursday night with a 1-for-3 outing for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre.
