Kansas City, MO - Alex Gordon went 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored as Kansas City cooled down New York with a 7-0 victory to avoid a four-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium.
Kansas City starter Jorge De La Rosa (8-10) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings while scattering six hits. He also struck out five and walked two while Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria kept the Yankees off the board to keep the shutout intact.
Tony Pena finished 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBI and a run scored for the Royals, who won for just the second time in their last six games.
Kei Igawa (2-3) started for New York and was charged with five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 frames. Melky Cabrera and Jose Molina each had two hits for the Yankees, who had a six-game winning streak snapped. Alex Rodriguez went 0- for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch to remain at 499 career home runs.
The Yankees now trail Boston, which defeated Cleveland on Thursday, by 7 1/2 games.
Kansas City plated four runs in the second inning to take the early lead. Gordon doubled with one out and scored on Pena’s three-base hit to deep center. Jason LaRue then struck out and Esteban German worked a walk before David DeJesus doubled home a pair of runs. Mark Grudzielanek then tripled home DeJesus to make it 4-0.
The Yankees threatened in the sixth with two runners on, but Greinke came into the game and got Molina to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Royals added a run in the home half of the sixth to make it 5-0. With two outs, Gordon tripled and scored on Pena’s two-base hit to the gap in right- center field.
Kansas City made it a six-run advantage in the seventh as Billy Butler doubled home DeJesus, who was hit by a pitch from Sean Henn.
Gordon led off the bottom of the eighth with deep home run to center field to make it 7-0.
Game Notes
The Royals defeated the Yankees for just the third time in the last 16 encounters…Kansas City had 10 hits while the Yanks had six…New York went 0-for-12 at the plate with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base while KC hit 5-of-13 with RISP…Prior to the game, Kansas City purchased the contract of pitcher Jason Shiell from Triple-A Omaha.
