Yankees mash Jays, leapfrog them in AL East

AMERICAN LEAGUE YANKEES 20, BLUE JAYS 6

NEW YORK — Luke Voit and Aaron Hicks homered to key a seven-run second-inning burst made possible when right fielder Derek Fisher misplayed a pair of flyballs, and the New York Yankees rocketed past the Toronto Blue Jays into second place in the American League East with a 20-6 blowout Tuesday night that extended their winning streak to six.

Voit homered twice, raising his major league-leading total to 18, and had five RBI for the Yankees, who have rebounded following a 5-15 stretch and put themselves back on track to reach the expanded playoffs. New York (27-21) and Toronto (2621) started a stretch of seven games against each other in the final two weeks of the season.

DJ LeMahieu had four hits and five RBI, raising his average 13 points to .363. LeMahieu homered on a 48.7 mph offering from infielder Santiago Espinal leading off the eighth, the slowest pitch hit for a home run since MLB started tracking in 2008.

LeMahieu, batting leadoff, and Voit, hitting behind him, combined to mark the first time in Yankees history both the No. 1 and 2 hitters had five RBI in the same game.

Gary Sanchez hit a three-run homer off Anthony Kay, and Clint Frazier had a two-run shot against Ryan Borucki.

Giancarlo Stanton and Gio Urshela returned from the injured list for the Yankees, who expect to get Aaron Judge back today or Thursday.

Stanton was 0 for 4 with a walk as the designated hitter, the only Yankees starter without a hit, after missing

32 games because of a strained left hamstring. Urshela had three hits and made several sparking defensive plays at third after missing 11 games with a right elbow bone spur.

New York scored its most runs since a 20-6 win at Atlanta on Aug. 30, 2015. The Yankees batted around in the second, third and fourth innings, the first time they achieved the feat in three consecutive frames since doing it from the fifth through eighth innings in a 22-9 rout of Oakland on Aug. 25, 2011, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

TIGERS 6, ROYALS 0 Miguel Cabrera hit a home run and a double to help host Detroit beat Kansas City. Matthew Boyd (2-6) bounced back from a rough outing with a strong performance, throwing five-plus scoreless innings and giving up just two hits.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILLIES 4, METS 1 Jake Arrieta pitched effectively into the sixth inning before leaving with an injury, Didi Gregorius hit a two-run home run and host Philadelphia beat New York. Arrieta (4-4) allowed 1 run on Brandon Nimmo’s homer and 8 hits in 51/3 innings. But he walked off the mound, grabbing the back of his right leg, after hitting Andres Gimenez with a pitch to load the bases.

REDS 4, PIRATES 1 Tucker Barnhart hit a home run and Brian Goodwin prevented one with a leaping catch as host Cincinnati extended its winning streak to a season-high four games with a victory Pittsburgh.

INTERLEAGUE

RED SOX 2, MARLINS 0 Tanner Houck gave up just two singles over five innings to win his major-league debut, pitching visiting Boston past Miami. Jackie Bradley Jr. broke up a scoreless game with an opposite-field double off Miami starter Sandy Alcantara in the sixth.

RAYS 6, NATIONALS 1 Ryan Yarbrough stopped a personal 16-game winless streak, Nate Lowe homered and AL East-leading Tampa Bay beat Washington. Yarbrough (1-3) followed opener John Curtiss in the second inning and gave up one run and five hits over 52/3 innings for his first win since Aug 11, 2019 at Seattle.

BRAVES 5, ORIOLES 1 Adam Duvall tied a Braves record with his 10th home run in September, and visiting Atlanta used the collective work of six pitchers to beat Baltimore.