Joey Gallo homered twice, Corey Kluber pitched six effective innings in his best start since coming off the injured list and the New York Yankees rolled to an 8-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (83-65) won for the fourth time in five games and rebounded from Thursday’s 3-2, 10-inning loss in Baltimore when they were one strike away from completing the sweep.
Gallo hit his 11th and 12th homers with the Yankees by slugging a pair of impressive drives. He reached the second deck in right off Zach Plesac (10-6) in the second and then hit a high-arcing 418-foot homer into New York’s bullpen beyond the center-field fence in the eighth.
It was Gallo’s 14th career multi-homer game and sixth this season.
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton added solo homers while Brett Gardner hit a three-run homer as the Yankees matched a season high with five homers. New York’s only run that was not a homer was an RBI single by Gio Urshela.
Kluber (5-3), a two-time Cy Young winner in nine seasons with Cleveland, allowed four singles in a 95-pitch outing. He struck out four, walked two and was aided by his defense turning double plays in the second, fifth and sixth innings.
Kluber entered with an 8.49 ERA in his first three starts since returning from missing three months with a strained right shoulder on Aug. 30 and completed six innings for the first time since his no-hitter in Texas on May 19.
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Before the Yankees went ahead on Gallo’s first homer, Judge threw out Bobby Bradley on a double play.
With two on in the fifth, Myles Straw hit into a double play started by second baseman Gleyber Torres. After Jose Ramirez opened the sixth with a walk, DJ LeMahieu started a double play on a soft grounder to third by Franmil Reyes, who nearly beat the throw from second.
Plesac allowed five runs and seven hits in six-plus innings. He struck out six, walked one and was lifted after the first three hitters of the seventh reached.
Cleveland (71-74) lost for the 10th time in 14 games and mustered four hits.
–Field Level Media