A-Rod blasts three homers as Yankees defeat Royals
New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez drives the ball over the center field wall for a home run during the sixth inning. (August 14, 2010) Credit: AP
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The power surge Alex Rodriguez, and the Yankees, have been waiting for in 2010 just might have surfaced in the dog days of August.
Rodriguez hit three deep home runs last night, including a pair of two-run shots, in the Yankees 8-3 victory over the Royals in front of 34,206 at Kauffman Stadium.
The Yankees hit five home runs - they had 14 hits - including three solo blasts in the sixth inning when they turned a 1-1 score into a 4-1 lead.
The home runs, off three different pitchers, gave Rodriguez 604 in his career, 21 this season and four on this six-game trip that concludes Sunday. It was the fourth three-homer game of his career and first since April 26, 2005 against the Angels.
"I haven't really hit for any power this year, so it's been frustrating," said A-Rod, who has been driving in runs all season and had five last night to raise his total to a baseball-best 97. "Being stuck at 599 was really a microcosm of what's been going on all year. I've been able to drive in runs and hit some doubles here and there, but overall, I've hit for no power."
The victory enabled the Yankees (72-44) to stay two games ahead of the Rays in the AL East.
Rodriguez credited hitting coach Kevin Long for diagnosing a mechanical issue with his hips - something they addressed in two sessions, Thursday and again Saturday.
"He felt my hips weren't coming through," A-Rod said. "All your power comes from your hips."
The five home runs - Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson also homered in the sixth - were the most hit in a game by the Yankees since Sept. 1 of last year when they also hit five.
Phil Hughes (14-5, 3.94) overcame an erratic first inning and pitched well but was the victim of some bad luck in his sixth and final inning in which the Royals (48-69) trimmed their deficit to 4-3. Hughes allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings.
Rodriguez immediately gave the Yankees some cushion back, hitting a two-run homer in the seventh off Kanekoa Texeira to make it 6-3.
His two-run shot off Greg Holland, a prodigious rocket that nearly cleared the fountain in left-center - it splashed into it instead - made it 8-3.
"That's hitting it pretty far," said manager Joe Girardi, who said in his playing and managerial career he couldn't remember a homer hit in that location.
Joba Chamberlain pitched a perfect seventh to give him 82/3 scoreless innings - nine appearances - since being demoted from the eighth-inning role in late July. Boone Logan teamed with David Robertson to pitch a scoreless eighth and, with it no longer a save situation, Sergio Mitre pitched the ninth.
It was a 1-1 game when the Yankees came to bat in the sixth but Rodriguez changed that, driving Sean O'Sullivan's 1-and-2 pitch deep to left-center. After Robinson Cano flew out, Posada took O'Sullivan deep, driving the righthander's full-count pitch over the 410-foot sign in center for his 13th homer - and first since July 24 against the Royals. Granderson stepped up and made it 4-1, pulling a 3-and-1 pitch down the rightfield line for his 11th home run of the season.
