Yanks roll to sweep of Royals

[NYHC GIANT]

NEW YORK -- Randy Johnson helped the Yankees complete a convincing three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, pitching five innings of four-hit, one-run baseball in a 9-3 victory at Yankee Stadium.

 

Johnson (2-1) has yet to issue a walk in any of his three starts. The veteran left-hander, with five strikeouts against the Royals, brought his total to 16 in 21 innings.

 

Kansas City had just one single, a soft hit to left by Esteban German with one out in the third, until it produced three straight two-out singles leading to a run in the fifth.

 

The win was New York's 14th in a row over Kansas City at Yankee Stadium. The Royals haven't won a game in New York since April 6, 2002.

 

New York put the Royals in at quick hole, homering in the first inning for the third straight game. Gary Sheffield, who slammed a three-run homer in the first inning on Wednesday, socked a solo shot to right off loser Denny Bautista (0-1) to start the parade on Thursday.

 

New York opened the second inning with four straight singles by Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Bernie Williams and Robinson Cano, and Johnny Damon added a sacrifice fly to help the Yankees go up 4-0 against the 2-6 Royals.

 

Bautista settled down after the second, giving up one single and hitting one batter over the next three innings before he was relieved by Andrew Sisco in the sixth.

 

Giambi, who hit a three-run homer in the opener on Tuesday, slammed a two-run home run in the eighth after Alex Rodriguez led off the inning with a double. Damon launched his first home run in pinstripes, a three-run shot, in the bottom of the eighth as well.

 

The win concluded a brief three-game home series for the Yankees, who play their next five games on the road in Minnesota and Toronto. Kansas City continues its nine-game road trip with a get-together against the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg on Friday

[mickeef2]

Homers by Giambi* and Sheffield*!