NEW YORK — At this rate, the New York Yankees might want to build a rooting space for Brett Gardner, too.
Gardner kept up his power surge from the leadoff spot, and Didi Gregorius and Chris Carter also homered Monday night as the Yankees beat Jason Vargas again in a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Before the game, the Yankees debuted a new fan section for rookie slugger Aaron Judge — The Judge’s Chambers, with 18 people wearing black judicial robes with his No. 99 in a faux jury box behind his spot in right field.
While Judge went 0 for 3, Gardner hit his ninth home run in the last 21 games, lining a solo drive in the third inning. The leadoff man didn’t have an RBI in the Yankees’ first 18 games.
“Just been consistent at the plate,” he said.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi smiled at the prospect of a place set aside for Gardner.
“He’s had a big cheering section for a long time,” he said. “Would you make them ‘Gardeners?”
Judge said it wasn’t such a farfetched idea.
“It might be coming next, you don’t know,” he said, smiling.
A reversed call in the seventh kept the Yankees ahead and enabled Michael Pineda (5-2) to top Vargas for the second time in a week. The Royals, with the worst record in the AL, have lost five of seven.
Vargas (5-3) began the day with a 2.03 ERA, tied for second-best in the majors. But the lefty fell to 0-7 lifetime against the Yankees when he was tagged by Gardner and Gregorius, the only left-handed hitters in New York’s lineup.
Last week, Vargas lost to Pineda and the Yankees 11-7 in Kansas City.
“I definitely felt like I was able to make pitches tonight and I wasn’t wasting pitches, like I did last time out,” Vargas said.
“But, when you come off the field and you’re losing the ballgame, you didn’t do your job.”
The Royals trailed 3-2 in the seventh and had a runner on second with two outs. Alcides Escobar hit a grounder that second baseman Starlin Castro fielded behind the bag before making a one-hop throw to Carter at first.
Umpire Marvin Hudson ruled safe and when Carter briefly turned around to look at him, Jorge Soler kept running and slid home ahead of a late throw. The Yankees challenged the call and were right, taking the apparent tying run off the board.
Carter quickly made up for his near-miscue, hitting a solo homer in the bottom half.
Pineda gave up two runs in 61/3 innings. Dellin Betances worked the ninth for his third save.
Gregorius got his sixth straight hit, a two-run drive into the second deck for a 3-2 lead in the fourth.
Jorge Bonifacio hit a leadoff homer in the third and the Royals added another run that inning on an RBI double by Escobar.
CLEANUP MAN
Girardi was in the dugout while coaches were exchanging the lineup cards when he suddenly was summoned by umpire crew chief Jerry Layne. Moments later, Girardi was wiping dirt off the dish.
Girardi was ejected last weekend at Tampa Bay during an animated argument that included him covering the plate with dirt. This time, Layne — who’s known the skipper since the days when he was a big league catcher — playfully told Girardi that he’d “set a bad example” for kids and “that I should clean the plate.”
TWINS 14, ORIOLES 7 Max Kepler homered and drove in four runs, Miguel Sano and Jorge Polanco each had a career-high four hits and the Minnesota Twins roared back to beat the Baltimore Orioles. Minnesota trailed 5-0 in the second inning and 6-2 entering the fifth before cranking up the offense against Ubaldo Jimenez and an ineffective Baltimore bullpen. A two-run double by Kepler helped the Twins knot the score in the fifth, Minnesota sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run sixth and Sano added a two-run homer in the ninth. Joe Mauer had three hits, two RBIs and scored twice for the Twins, who reached season highs in runs and hits (21). Adam Jones hit a three-run drive in the second inning off Kyle Gibson (1-4) for Baltimore.
ASTROS 1, TIGERS 0 Brad Peacock and three relievers combined for a one-hitter and Jose Altuve provided the offense with an RBI double to lead the Houston Astros to win over the Detroit Tigers. Peacock was solid moving out of the bullpen to make a spot start for injured ace Dallas Keuchel. In his first start since September, Peacock allowed the lone hit and struck out eight in 4 1/3 innings. He was lifted after walking Tyler Collins with one out in the fifth inning. Chris Devenski (3-2) took over and pitched 2 2/3 innings for the win before Will Harris pitched a scoreless eighth. Ken Giles struck out two in the ninth for his 12th save to allow the Astros to bounce back after being swept by the Indians over the weekend. Detroit’s only hit was a single by Mikie Mahtook with one out in the third on a night the Tigers tied a season high by striking out 14 times. The team’s only baserunner after Collins was Victor Martinez, who was plunked with one out in the seventh. But Houston still faced the minimum in that inning when J.D. Martinez grounded into a double play to end the seventh. The Astros struck early against Michael Fulmer (5-2) when George Springer drew a leadoff walk before scoring on the double by Altuve to make it 1-0 with one out in the first.
ANGELS 3, RAYS 2 Jefry Marte scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the seventh inning to help the Los Angeles Angels’ beat the Tampa Bay Rays. The Angels, who have won six of eight, pushed across the run without a hit in the seventh inning against Tampa Bay relievers Jumbo Diaz (0-3) and Ryne Stanek. After walking Mike Trout intentionally to load the bases with two out, Stanek threw a ball in the dirt while facing Albert Pujols, allowing Marte to score easily. Corey Dickerson and Logan Morrison homered off Angels starter J.C. Ramirez for Tampa Bay’s only two runs. Dickerson’s 12th home run, and his sixth in six games, came on his 28th birthday. Morrison’s 12th homer was his seventh of the month. Andrelton Simmons drove in the Angels’ first run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning after an infield hit by Cameron Maybin and two walks. Maybin hit his second home run for the Angels, tying the game at 2-2 in the fifth.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
ROCKIES 8, PHILLIES 1 Jeff Hoffman struck out seven and tossed three-hit ball over seven innings to lead the Colorado Rockies to a win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Hoffman (2-0) also had his first big league hit and the National League-leading Rockies continued to cruise away from home. They are the best in the majors with a 16-7 road record and are 5-2 on this season-long 10-game road trip. The 22-year-old-Hoffman, rated Colorado’s No. 2 prospect, made his second spot start of the season. He was needed because the Rockies played a doubleheader last week and went with Hoffman rather than use a starter on short rest. He’ll likely return to the minors but certainly impressed against the woeful Phillies. The tarp covered the field until 30 minutes or so before first pitch, the sixth straight game the Rockies failed to take batting practice. No worries. Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer and the Rockies scored four runs off Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff (0-5).
GIANTS 6, CUBS 4 Joe Panik hit his first career leadoff homer and doubled twice, helping the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs. Brandon Belt also connected and Ty Blach pitched into the eighth inning in the first meeting between the teams since San Francisco was eliminated by Chicago in the NL Division Series last year. Panik, Belt and Justin Ruggiano each had two RBIs as the streaking Giants won for the eighth time in 10 games. Ruggiano’s leadoff drive in the eighth made it 6-0 and gave San Francisco 18 straight solo homers, just three away from matching its major league record of 21 from 2011.
BRAVES 5, PIRATES 2 Matt Adams hit a two-run homer in his second start since being traded to Atlanta, Ender Inciarte had a career-high five hits and the Braves beat Gerrit Cole and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Brandon Phillips also homered for the Braves, who have won eight of 11. Adams was acquired from St. Louis on Saturday as a fill-in for injured first baseman Freddie Freeman, expected to miss about 10 weeks with a broken left wrist. Adams had two hits, including his fifth-inning homer high into the right-field seats for a 5-1 lead. David Freese and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle were ejected by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in the fourth.
INTERLEAGUE
REDS 5, INDIANS 1 Scott Feldman struck out a season-high nine while ending Cincinnati’s long stretch of ineffective starts, and Scott Schebler homered for the third straight game, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a victory over the Cleveland Indians. The Reds took the opener of the annual intrastate series. The teams play two games in Cincinnati followed by two in Cleveland. The Indians had won their last four at Great American Ball Park and six straight overall in the Ohio series. Feldman (3-4) got the first victory by a Reds starter since May 9. He gave up four hits, including Jason Kipnis’ homer, while becoming the first Cincinnati starter in the last 10 games to make it through six innings. The Reds’ rotation is last in the NL in ERA and innings pitched. Three relievers closed out a seven-hitter for Cincinnati’s second victory in 10 games.