Sanchez stays hot as Yankees rout Orioles
Jays add to Twins’ woes, open one-game lead in American League East
NEW YORK: Rookie Gary Sanchez homered for the eighth time in nine games and drove in four runs as the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 14-4 on Friday.
Mark Teixeira and Chase Headley also went deep for the surging Yankees, who moved five games over .500 for the first time this season.
Sanchez, who had three hits, had a two-out single in the bottom of the first. Teixeira followed with a towering shot into the right-field bleachers off Yovani Gallardo to give New York a 2-1 lead.
The Yankees broke the game open against Gallardo (4-6) with a six-run second. The right-hander was charged with eight runs over 1-1/3 innings, the shortest start of his 10-year career.
Luis Cessa (4-0) gave up three runs and five hits over six innings in his second big-league start.
Manny Machado, who gave the Orioles the lead with a homer in the first, hit his second of the game into the right-field seats in the sixth for his 31st home run of the season.
Russell Martin and Justin Smoak each homered and drove in five runs and the Toronto Blue Jays handed the Minnesota Twins their eighth straight loss, 15-8.
Josh Donaldson and Darwin Barney also homered. Francisco Liriano had his first win with Toronto to help the Blue Jays take a one-game lead over Baltimore in the AL East.
Corey Kluber pitched six strong innings for a career-best sixth straight victory and Abraham Almonte hit two run-scoring doubles, helping the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 12-1 in a match-up of division leaders.
Adrian Beltre hit a solo homer in the sixth for the AL West-leading Rangers, but Kluber (14-8) struck out the other three hitters in the righthander’s final inning to finish with seven strikeouts.
Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon homered, and Ian Kennedy allowed one run through five innings as the Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 6-3.
Jeff Samardzija and two relievers combined on a seven-hitter, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 7-0.
Angel Pagan homered while Brandon Belt, Denard Span and Buster Posey added two hits apiece for the Giants who closed to within one game of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost 6-4 to the Chicago Cubs, in the race for the NL West.
Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy hit solo homers and drove in two runs each, and Gio Gonzalez earned his 100th career win as Washington beat Colorado 8-5.