The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
YANKS DOUBLE UP ROYALS
The Yankees’ Starlin Castro, right, celebrates with Didi Gregorius after Monday’s win over the Kansas City Royals in New York. The Yankees won 4-2.
NEW YORK >> Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner and Chris Carter homered, and the New York Yankees beat Jason Vargas again in a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.
A reversed call in the seventh inning kept the Yankees ahead and enabled Michael Pineda (5-2) to top Vargas for the second time in a week. The Royals, with the worst record in the AL, have lost five of seven.
Vargas (5-3) began the day with a 2.03 ERA, tied for second-best in the majors. But the lefty fell to 0-7 lifetime against the Yankees when he was tagged by Gardner and Gregorius, the only left-handed hitters in New York’s lineup.
The Royals trailed 3-2 in the seventh and had a runner on second with two outs. Alcides Escobar hit a grounder that second baseman Starlin Castro fielded behind the bag before making a one-hop throw to first baseman Chris Carter.
Umpire Marvin Hudson ruled safe and when Carter briefly turned around to look at him, Jorge Soler kept running and slid home ahead of a late throw. The Yankees challenged the call and were right, taking the apparent tying run off the board.
Carter quickly made up for his near-miscue, hitting a solo homer in the bottom half.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 0 for 3, also drawing a walk and scoring a run. Before the game, the team debuted a new rooting section for the rookie star — The Judge’s Chambers, with 18 fans wearing black robes with his No. 99 in a faux jury box behind his spot in right field.
Pineda gave up two runs in 6 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking one. He threw 98 pitches, 70 for strikes.
Dellin Betances worked the ninth for his third save.
Gardner hit a solo drive in the third, his ninth home run in the last 21 games. The leadoff man didn’t have an RBI in the Yankees’ first 18 games.