Judge, Sánchez drive Yanks to blowout win over Royals

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge homered for the first of his three hits, Gary Sánchez connected for the second straight game and the New York Yankees got their first blowout victory in a month, beating the Kansas City Royals 8-1 Thursday.

Judge got New York started with a solo shot in the first, Luke Voit had another in the third and Sánchez blew the game open with a three-run drive in the sixth.

New York had not won by more than four runs since a 7-0 rout of the Chicago White Sox on May 22.

Jameson Taillon (2-4) matched a season high by pitching 6 1/3 innings and ended an eight-start winless streak. The right-hander allowed a run, five hits and two walks while striking out six on 96 pitches.

Nestor Cortes Jr. finished out the six-hitter with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Brett Gardner made a sliding catch in center on Whit Merrifield’s popup for the final out.

Brad Keller (6-8) allowed four runs in five innings for Kansas City, which was trying to win a series against New York for the first time since 2015.

The Yankees have won seven of nine, and seven of their eight wins before Wednesday had come via comebacks.

New York has 29 homers in its past 14 games after a notably punchless start to the season — it totaled 11 in the 14 games prior to this stretch.

Sánchez hit a tying homer in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday, setting up Voit’s game-ending single in a 6-5 win. He followed up with two hits Thursday, raising his average to .338 in his past 23 games with eight homers and 18 RBIs. The homer was his 13th of the season, second on the team behind Judge’s 16.

Judge walked twice and reached base in all five of his plate appearances. Giancarlo Stanton and Rougned Odor also had three hits each.

Royals pitchers walked five Thursday and combined to issue 24 free passes during the...

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