Castro's slam powers Yankees past Indians 13-7
NEW YORK -- Starlin Castro's grand slam powered a five-run third inning Friday night for the New York Yankees in their 13-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium.
Jacoby Ellsbury finished 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a seventh-inning RBI single for the Yankees (55-54), who have alternated wins with losses in their last five games.
The Indians (61-46) have lost four of six, a stretch in which they have been outscored 50-32.
Castro finished 2-for-3 with two walks in five plate appearances for the Yankees. Brian McCann and Gary Sanchez had two RBIs apiece. The RBIs were the first as a major leaguer for Sanchez, who also threw out two runners in his first start at catcher since being promoted Wednesday.
Chase Headley had an RBI single in the sixth, Aaron Hicks hit a solo homer in the seventh and Brett Gardner delivered a two-run single in the eighth. Mark Teixeira, who announced Friday he plans to retire at the end of the season, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Michael Pineda (6-10) picked up the win after allowing four runs, six hits and one walk while striking out six in six innings.
Chris Gimenez hit a three-run homer in the fifth for the Indians, Tyler Naquin delivered an RBI groundout in the seventh and Mike Napoli (single) Brandon Guyer (single) and Abraham Almonte (sacrifice fly) all had RBIs in the eighth.
Jose Ramirez had three hits.
Josh Tomlin (11-4) took the loss after allowing seven runs, nine hits and two walks while striking out two in 4 2/3 innings.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI groundout by McCann, who doubled the lead with a run-scoring double with one out in the third. Castro hit his first career grand slam two batters later to make it 6-0.
The Indians cut the deficit in half in the fifth, when Gimenez hit a long three-run homer to left. But the Yankees increased their lead to 7-3 and chased Tomlin in the bottom of the inning, when Sanchez collected his first RBI via a double to center that scored Castro.
NOTES: Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira discussed his decision to retire at the end of the season during an emotional 20-minute pregame press conference. "I just kind of realized my body can't do it anymore," said Teixeira, who has missed 207 games since 2012 because of wrist, leg and neck injuries. "If I have to grind through a season not being healthy, I'd rather be somewhere else." ... Yankees manager said 1B Greg Bird, who missed this season because of shoulder surgery but is still in line to be Teixeira's heir apparent, is on pace to play in the Arizona Fall League. ... The Indians promoted LHP Shawn Morimando from Triple-A Columbus and added INF Michael Martinez to the active roster while optioning INF Erik Gonzalez and LHP Ryan Merritt to Columbus. ... Indians minor league C Francisco Mejia extended his hitting streak to 46 games for Class A Lynchburg on Thursday.