Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Austin Wells homered in a span of five batters off Seth Lugo in the fifth inning to power the New York Yankees to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Monday night in the first meeting between the teams since last October’s American League Division Series.

Carlos Carrasco (2-1) and four relievers combined on a two-hitter as the Yankees got a strong pitching performance after entering the game with a 4.67 team ERA, including a 5.40 ERA from their starters.

The Yankees hit four homers for the third time this season. The other instances were March 29-30 against the Milwaukee Brewers when they slugged 13 homers and scored 32 runs. New York’s power display occurred after it hit three homers in its previous seven contests.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. also homered off Lugo (1-2) in the fourth before the Yankees took the lead.

Grisham snapped a 1-1 tie when he hit a full-count fastball into the right field seats. Grisham homered after fouling off a bunt attempt on the first pitch of the at-bat.

After Lugo retired Oswaldo Cabrera, Rice put the Yankees ahead 3-1 by hitting a high-arcing drive into the right field seats on a 0-1 cutter.

Lugo struck out Aaron Judge for the second out but on the next pitch Wells blasted a fastball down the right field line.

Lugo tied a career high by allowing four homers in 6 2/3 innings. He also allowed four homers in Philadelphia when he was with the New York Mets on Sept. 17, 2020.

Lugo, who entered with a 13-inning road scoreless streak, allowed four runs on seven hits. The right-hander struck out four and walked two.

Carrasco rebounded from a rocky outing last week in Detroit and allowed only Bobby Witt Jr.’s homer in the third and pitched five innings. The right-hander issued both of his walks in the first and struck out four in a 79-pitch outing.

Carrasco was also aided by several nice plays in left field by Jasson Dominguez, including a running catch on Salvador Perez to open the fourth.

Fernando Cruz followed Carrasco and got three of the next four outs on strikeouts before Tim Hill got the final two outs of the seventh. Luke Weaver pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Devin Williams allowed a single to Witt before stranding two in the ninth for his second save.

–Field Level Media