Yankees 4, Royals 3
CC Sabathia came within one out of his third complete game of the season and Austin Kearns hit his first home run as a member of the Yankees as New York held on for a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
Nick Swisher collected three hits and Curtis Granderson went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Yankees, who have won four of their last six games.
Entering just 6-5 on the road, Sabathia (15-5) allowed three runs and 10 hits in 8 2/3 innings en route to tying Tampa Bay's David Price for the American League lead in victories. The 30-year-old left-hander, who walked two and struck out three, has lost just two of his last 13 decisions.
Sabathia exited with runners on the corners and two outs and David Robertson yielded a two-run double by Willie Bloomquist, drawing the Royals within a run. Wilson Betemit hit an infield single to put runners on first and third, but Robertson struck out Jason Kendall to seal the win and notch his first save of the year.
Granderson opened the scoring in the second with an RBI single and Mark Teixeira lifted a sacrifice fly in the third to make it 2-0.
Acquired from Cleveland at the July 31 trade deadline, Kearns made it a three-run cushion an inning later with a one-out solo homer, his ninth of the season.
Bruce Chen (7-6) fell to 1-5 lifetime against the Yankees, surrendering three runs and eight hits in five innings.