Brett Gardner doubled home the tiebreaking run off Kelvin Herrera in the eighth inning and the New York Yankees overcame three home runs by Lorenzo Cain Tuesday night to beat the reeling Kansas City Royals, 10-7, at Yankee Stadium.
In a back-and-forth game, Kansas City rallied from deficits of 1-0, 5-3 and 7-6 as Cain tied his career high with five RBIs. Cheslor Cuthbert also homered for the Royals, who have hit six home runs in the first two games of the series.
But Gold Glove shortstop Alcides Escobar allowed Ben Gamel’s grounder to bounce off his glove for an error with one out in the eighth, and Gardner followed with a drive to left-center off Herrera (0-1) for an 8-7 lead. Starlin Castro was hit by a pitch, and Brian McCann hit a two-run double off the fence in right-center.
Aroldis Chapman, back from a 29-game domestic violence suspension Monday, followed with a hitless ninth for his first Yankees save.
New York (13-18) trailed 2-1, 3-2 and 6-5 before winning for the fourth time in five games. The Yankees are 13-3 when scoring three or more runs.
World Series champion Kansas City has lost 11 of 14, dropping two games under .500 at 15-17.
Cain hit a solo homer in the third and a three-run drive in the fifth, both off starter Masahiro Tanaka. Cain added a tying homer off Andrew Miller (2-0) leading off the eighth and became the seventh Royals player to hit three homers in a regular-season game. George Brett and John Mayberry did it twice, and Brett also accomplished the feat against the Yankees in the 1978 AL Championship Series.
Cain tied his high for RBIs, set against the Yankees on May 15 last year. With a chance to hit his fourth homer, he popped out against Chapman for the final out.
Tigers 5, Nationals 4 — Andrew Romine drove in the tiebreaking run on a play that withstood a replay challenge under the new slide rule, Miguel Cabrera tacked on a pinch-hit RBI, and Detroit overcame Ryan Zimmerman’s two homers to beat Washington, ending a seven-game losing streak.
Bryce Harper came up as the potential go-ahead run in the ninth, but closer Francisco Rodriguez intentionally walked the reigning NL MVP to put two men on with one out for cleanup hitter Zimmerman. Rodriguez struck out Zimmerman swinging, then got .402-hitting Daniel Murphy to fly to center for his eighth save.
The Tigers trailed 3-2 before scoring three runs in the sixth off Joe Ross (3-2).
After James McCann’s RBI single tied it, Romine came up with the bases loaded and one out. His grounder led to a forceout at second base, but Romine beat shortstop Danny Espinosa’s throw to first in a bid for a double play.
Because Anthony Gose’s slide was not near the bag at second, Washington hoped Romine would be called out on review, based on this season’s rule governing how a baserunner must slide. But Gose did not make contact with Espinosa, and the play stood as called on the field.
Brewers 10, Marlins 2 — Jonathan Villar got two hits, stole two bases and scored twice, Ryan Braun had a pair of RBI singles, and Aaron Hill added three hits, including a two-run double, as Milwaukee won its rematch against Miami and Adam Conley, who held the Brewers hitless for 7? shutout innings on April 29.
This time the young lefthander gave up seven hits and four runs in four innings, and the Brewers stole four bases against him.
Zach Davies (1-3) allowed two runs in five innings and lowered his ERA to 6.29.
Phillies 3, Braves 2 — Adam Morgan allowed only one run in seven innings, Mikael Franco homered and Philadelphia extended Atlanta’s home misery to 16 losses in 17 games at Turner Field.
Morgan (1-0) matched the longest start of his career, allowing four hits and one walk. Franco hit his seventh homer off Matt Wisler (1-3) to lead off the eighth.
Freddie Freeman led off the ninth with his fifth homer off Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez. Gomez gave up a two-out single before ending the game on Reid Brignac’s fly ball to center field for his 12th save.
Cubs 8, Padres 7 — Ben Zobrist went 4 for 4, Addison Russell had three RBIs and Chicago beat San Diego for its eighth straight win.
Jon Lester (4-1) pitched six innings of three-run ball as the Cubs improved to 25-6 for the best start by a major league team since the 1984 Detroit Tigers won 26 of their first 31 games.
Kris Bryant drove in two runs and Jason Heyward scored twice, helping the Cubs open an 8 1/2-game lead over second-place Pittsburgh in the NL Central.
Indians 4, Astros 0 — Trevor Bauer pitched seven scoreless innings and Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen completed the four-hitter to help Cleveland beat host Houston for its sixth victory in the past eight games.
Bauer (3-0), who started the season in the bullpen, allowed three hits and struck out seven to extend his winning streak to a career-high three games. He’s been dominant in his career against the Astros and entered the game 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three outings against Houston.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 1 — In Denver, Rubby De La Rosa took a shutout into the eighth before running out of steam, Paul Goldschmidt homered and Arizona won its fifth straight game.
Orioles 5, Twins 3 — Adam Jones delivered a go-ahead, two-run single in the ninth inning after a towering homer in the fifth to lead visiting Baltimore over skidding Minnesota.
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The Cincinnati Reds postponed their home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday night because of rain. A makeup was not scheduled.
