Yankees Ride CC Sabathia, Chase Headley To Defeat Royals

The New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-1 behind CC Sabathia on a rainy Saturday night. CC  was in total command for seven innings.

In the first, Jacoby Ellsbury reached on an error and then stole second base. But he was stranded there as Alex Rodriguez struck out, Mark Teixeira walked and Carlos Beltran grounded out to Royals pitcher Danny Duffy. [related category]

The Yankees broke on top in the third without the benefit of a hit. Ellsbury, Rodriguez and Teixeira walked to load the bases. Beltran then rocketed a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Duffy was so livid with the ball and strike calls that he was stomping like Yosemite Sam.

But the Royals struck back quickly. Three straight singles loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the third. Omar Infante scored on a sacrifice fly to even the score. Sabathia crafted back to back strike outs to get out of the inning.

With two outs In the fifth, the Yankees offense woke up. Back to back singles by Teixeira and Beltran brought Chase Headley to the plate.

Headley put a big smile on Sabathia´s face by drilling his fifth home run of the season to give The Yankees a 4-1 lead.

The Royals were unable to draw closer in the bottom of the fifth despite poor Yankees´ fielding.  Headley and Jose Pirela botched separate double play opportunities. Headley threw high to second to prevent the first. Pirela then booted a grounder. With the double play lost, he then grabbed the baseball, but threw high to first.

Manager Joe Girardi replaced Sabathia with Dellin Betances in the eighth inning. CC allowed six hits and struck out five. He had complete command of his slider and curve, posting no walks. Betances set the Royals down in order.

Alex Rodriguez added an insurance home run in the ninth to increase the Yankees ´ lead to 5-1. Andrew Miller closed it out. The victory ended the Yankees four-game losing streak.