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McCarthy pitches Yankees past Royals

Sep 7, 2014 - 3:45 AM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Brandon McCarthy turned in 6 2/3 strong innings to get himself back on track and lead the New York Yankees to a 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

After being tagged for nine runs while dropping his previous two starts, McCarthy (6-4) yielded just two along with six hits and a walk to help New York bounce back from a shutout loss in Friday's opener of this three-game set.

"I felt like I did a good job," said McCarthy. "When I got into some jams, I did a good job bearing down and making pitches. They hit a couple of good pitches. It was just kind of one of those days that you're working for everything you get."

Martin Prado went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to pace a Yankee offense that reached fill-in starter Liam Hendriks for four runs -- three earned -- and seven hits over the first four innings.

Hendriks (1-1) was pressed into duty when Danny Duffy exited the contest with a sore left shoulder after throwing only one pitch.

"It just tightened to a point that I just felt like I had a vice grip on my shoulder," said Duffy. "I feel terrible that we cashed a lot of our bullpen today."

Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas each knocked in runs for Kansas City, which had a four-game win streak halted but still leads the AL Central by two games with Detroit losing to San Francisco on Saturday.

Hendriks retired the first two New York hitters upon being called into duty, but Prado drilled a double to left center to extend the opening inning and Mark Teixeira followed with a single that plated the game's initial run.

Gordon's two-out single that brought in Moustakas pulled Kansas City even in the third, before the Yankees scored twice in their half of the frame to move back in front.

John Ryan Murphy doubled in front of Jacoby Ellsbury's go-ahead triple to deep center, with a Derek Jeter sacrifice fly tacking on another run for a 3-1 New York edge.

The Yankees increased the margin an inning later, as Chase Headley singled and later moved to third on a Murphy base hit prior to Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez making an errant throw on a pickoff attempt that enabled Headley to cross the plate.

McCarthy kept Alcides Escobar stranded at third after the Royals shortstop got there with a one-out double and an error in the top of the fifth, and New York tallied twice more in the bottom of the inning to continue to pull away.

Doubles by Prado and Carlos Beltran off Casey Coleman upped the lead to 5-1, with Beltran scoring on Ichiro Suzuki's pinch-hit single two batters afterward.

"He's been a really big part of our lineup here," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Prado. "We need to keep him out there and keep him going."

The Royals were able to convert Josh Willingham's leadoff double in the seventh into a run, as a groundout and a sac fly from Moustakas trimmed the deficit to 6-2. Kansas City didn't manage a hit the rest of the way, however, against relievers Shawn Kelley, Dellin Betances and David Robertson.

Game Notes

Duffy became the first Kansas City starter to fail to record an out since Rick Reed against Boston on July 22, 1992 ... Willingham had missed the Royals' last six games with a back injury ... Suzuki and Murphy each finished with two hits ... The Yankees have won seven of their last nine home games.