Four late homers lift Yankees
TORONTO — Home runs have been coming in bunches for the New York Yankees in recent games, and they got a bunch more Saturday.
Brett Gardner, Matt Holliday, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius all hit solo homers in the eighth inning, leading Jordan Montgomery and Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0.
The Yankees tied the franchise record with four homers in an inning. Gardner led it off with a home run and then with two outs, Holliday, Castro and Gregorius connected in succession.
“It’s pretty impressive, a lot of fun to be a part of,” Gardner said.
It was the 25th multihomer game of the season for New York, second in the majors to Tampa Bay (26). The Yankees have gone deep in 13 of their past 15 games, hitting 25 homers in that span.
“We’re getting it from all spots in the lineup, which is really nice,” manager Joe Girardi said.
All eight of New York’s hits were for extra bases. The Yankees had four doubles, with Castro, Gregorius, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks hitting them.
Jason Grilli became the first reliever in Blue Jays history to allow four homers in a single inning. He declined to speak to reporters following the game.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons stuck with Grilli as long as he could because, as he said, “our guys in the ‘pen are running on fumes right now.”
This was the fourth time the Yankees have hit four homers in an inning — they last did it Oct. 1, 2012, against Boston. They first did it in 1977 at Toronto against the expansion Blue Jays, with Cliff Johnson connecting twice and Lou Piniella and Thurman Munson once each.
Montgomery (3-4) gave up three singles in six innings, striking out five and walking three for his first win since May 6 against the Cubs.
“The curve was my best pitch today,” he said. “I got it for strikes and then expanded the zone a little bit and got them to swing over it.”
The rookie left-hander lasted just 4 1/3 innings in his previous outing, May 29 at Baltimore.
“I thought Monty threw the ball really, really well,” Gardner said. “It’s a lot of fun for us to play behind him and watch him continue to get better.”
Adam Warren, Tyler Clippard and Dellin Betances each pitched a hitless innings in relief.
Joe Biagini (1-4) allowed three runs in a career-high seven innings.
“We didn’t score him any runs, obviously, but he had it all working,” Gibbons said.
Hicks and Judge hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the third. Biagini set down 10 straight before Castro and Gregorius doubled in the seventh.
Toronto put runners at first and second in each of the second, third and fifth innings but came up empty each time. The Blue Jays finished 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Royals 12, Indians 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lorenzo Cain capped a six-run fifth inning with a tworun homer, Jason Hammel settled down after a shaky start and the Royals routed the Cleveland Indians.
Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas had two-run doubles off Carlos Carrasco (5-3) during the Royals’ big inning, helping them overcome a 3-0 hole and ensure a series win over their division rival.
Hammel (2-6) gave up homers to Carlos Santana and Bradley Zimmer in the third, but he retired 15 of his next 17 batters before giving way to Mike Minor with two outs in the seventh. Hammel struck out seven without a walk for his first win since beating Cleveland on May 5.
Tigers 10, White Sox 1
DETROIT — Jordan Zimmermann tossed six solid innings and the Tigers used four home runs to power past the Chicago White Sox.
Nicholas Castellanos and Alex Presley hit back-to-back homers in the second inning, and Alex Avila and Justin Upton also homered for the Tigers, who have outscored Chicago 25-6 in the first two games of the weekend series.
Zimmermann (5-4) won for the second time in six starts, allowing one run and seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Detroit has won four of five.
Miguel Gonzalez (4-6) lost his fifth straight road start, giving up six runs and 10 hits in six innings, including three of Detroit’s homers. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was ejected in the bottom of the first inning after he wasn’t allowed to challenge a play at first base.
Athletics 10, Nationals 4
OAKLAND, Calif. — Ryon Healy had two doubles and two homers, Jed Lowrie doubled twice and homered, and the Athletics beat the Washington Nationals.
A day after being outscored by 10 runs, the A’s got off to a fast start as Healy and Lowrie each hit two-run homers in the bottom of the first inning off starter Joe Ross (2-2). Healy also hit a long solo shot in a three-run seventh inning in which the A’s broke open a 7-4 game. It was Healy’s first career multi-home run game and the four extra-base hits tied a franchise record accomplished by 16 others since 1913.
Yonder Alonso hit a two-run homer — his 16th — earlier in the seventh. Adam Lind homered for the Nationals.
Liam Hendriks (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win.