BRONX, N.Y. – The Yankees were back home on Monday night to take on the Kansas City Royals for the second time in the past two weeks. Behind the home runs from Brett Gardner, Didi Gregorius and Chris Carter, the Yankees won, 4-2.
Michael Pineda has been nothing short of the ace of the Yankees’ staff this season and he impressed again in his performance on Monday. Pineda tossed 6.1 innings and held the Royals to just two runs all night long. The big righty struck out six and made only one big mistake in the top of third inning when Emilio Bonifacio hit a solo home run.
Brett Gardner matched Bonifacio’s homer with a blast of his own in the bottom half of the third that he sent over the short porch in right field. Following Gardner’s home run in the third, Gregorius hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
The Yankees wouldn’t relinquish their lead from the fourth inning on and their bullpen was dominant again. Adam Warren, Tyler Clippard and Dellin Betances combined to give up only one hit in the 2.2 innings of action. Betances has shown that he can close out games for the Yankees after struggling last year – he picked up his third save of the season in this game.
With the victory, the Yankees improved to 26-16 and the Bronx Bombers have now won two in a row. One key to the Yankees success this season has been their ability to snap losing streaks very early. Their longest losing streak is three games so being able to rebound after a little bit of a rough stretch has been vital to the team’s success.
Tomorrow night, Jordan Montgomery and the Yankees will take on Danny Duffy in another battle of the southpaws. The Yankees are currently a game above the Orioles for first place in the American League East.
Win- Michael Pineda
Loss- Jason Vargas
Save- Dellin Betances
