Royals at Yankees
With a nine-game road trip on the opposite coast looming on the horizon, the New York Yankees are trying to build momentum with a strong finish to their current homestand. Winners of three of their last four, New York can move to .500 both overall and at Yankee Stadium when it continues a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon.
Brett Gardner, who swatted a go-ahead grand slam in Wednesday's win over Boston, had a two-run homer and Mike Tauchman also went deep for the second time in three games as New York eased to a 6-2 victory Friday. Luke Voit singled and walked twice to become the fourth Yankee in 10 seasons with an on-base streak of at least 30 games. Alex Gordon had a run-scoring double to extended his hitting streak to six games for the Royals, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Kansas City fell to 2-3 at the midway point of its 10-game road trip and is tied with Boston for the worst record in the American League.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Kansas City, YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Heath Fillmyer (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (1-1, 3.22)
Fillmyer lasted only three innings in his season debut but escaped with a no-decision despite allowing five runs on six hits, but he was better last time out at the Chicago White Sox with five innings of three-run ball. The 24-year-old faced New York at Yankee Stadium last July in his seventh major league appearance and did not factor in the decision after permitting three runs on five hits over five innings. Fillmyer had an ERA of 6.00 on the road last year, more than double than he had at home (2.91).
After giving up one earned run in each of his first three starts of the season, Tanaka was knocked around in his last start by the White Sox and took the loss after yielding five runs on seven hits over four innings. He turned in his best outing in his previous turn at Houston with six innings of one-run ball to earn his second straight no-decision. Slugger Lucas Duda is 3-for-9 with a pair of home runs and a double against Tanaka, who owns a 6.00 ERA in two starts versus Kansas City.
WALK-OFFS
1. New York signed 1B Logan Morrison, who has 137 career homers, to a minor league contract.
2. Royals P Brad Keller was suspended five games on Friday for intentionally throwing at a batter earlier this week.
3. Yankees C Gary Sanchez is expected to rejoin the lineup on the upcoming West Coast road trip.