Sabathia back to best as Yankees win at Royals

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KANSAS CITY, Missouri: New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia rediscovered his best form to steer the team to a 5-1 victory at Kansas City on Saturday, reopening a two-game lead atop the American League East division.
The Yankees opened a gap on Tampa Bay, which lost at Minnesota, while other key results saw Detroit edge St. Louis in a milestone game for Miguel Cabrera, while Houston had a narrow win against Toronto.
The Yankees-Royals game was played with rain approaching, and Sabathia (2-5) did his best to shorten the contest against a Kansas City team that scored 12 runs the previous night. He allowed the lone run without a walk in seven innings to win his second straight start after a poor start to his season.
Chase Headley hit a three-run homer and Alex Rodriguez hit his tenth of the season in the top of the ninth as New York ended a four-game losing skid.
Minnesota took advantage of rare Tampa Bay errors to beat the Rays 6-4.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, the Twins got two runners on base. The next batter Trevor Plouffe tapped the ball back to pitcher Kevin Jepsen with a chance for a double play, but his throw to second base was wide,
Kurt Suzuki capitalized on Minnesota’s reprieve as he followed with a sacrifice fly to give the hosts the lead. Eduardo Escobar — who had four hits for the game — added an RBI single, which the right fielder misplayed for another error.
Entering the game, Tampa Bay had been tied for the fewest errors in the majors with 13.
Houston’s Chris Carter, Marwin Gonzalez and Evan Gattis all homered as the Astros beat Toronto 6-5 for their fourth straight win.
This is the latest point in a season the AL West-leading Astros have been in first place in a division since 2004. At 24-13, Houston has its best 37-game start since 1999.
With Houston trailing 3-2, Carter hit a three-run shot in the sixth inning. One out later, Gonzalez homered.
Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera hit his 400th career home run as the Tigers beat St. Louis 4-3 in extra innings to settle a game interrupted for 80 minutes by rain.
Cabrera’s milestone shot gave him the most homers by a Venezuelan-born player, passing Andres Galarraga. The solo shot came in the first inning just before the rain delay.
Nearly five hours after Cabrera’s homer, the Tigers won it when Jose Iglesias had an RBI single in the 10th inning.
Washington’s Max Scherzer pitched brilliantly for seven scoreless innings, striking out a season-high 11, to guide the Nationals to a 4-1 win at San Diego.
Scherzer (4-3), who walked only two, has struck out at least 10 three times in four starts.
The Padres were one out from being shut out for the second straight night before Alexi Amarista hit an RBI single off Aaron Barrett.
The Chicago Cubs extended their winning streak to six by beating Pittsburgh 4-1.
Cubs starter Jon Lester (4-2) allowed one run in seven gutsy innings, striking out seven — passing 1,500 in his career in the process — and walking only one.
Pirates starter Gerrit Cole (5-2) was an undeserving loser, allowing only two runs in six innings.
Chicago moved six games above a .500 winning percentage for the first time in six years.
San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs to power the Giants to an 11-2 win against Cincinnati.
Crawford’s fourth career grand slam in the fifth inning made it 9-0.