Indians will host Rodriguez and the Yankees on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Rodriguez, who doubled and singled in NY's 12-6 win over the Royals Sunday, needs one homer to become the seventh player to hit 600 in a career.
Alex Rodriguez hitting his 599th career home run on Thursday night off Kansas City reliever Robinson Tejada.New York -- Curtis Granderson hit a pair of homers, Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs -- the last when he was hit with a pitch on the hand -- and the New York Yankees waited out a lengthy rain delay to beat the Kansas City Royals 12-6 on Sunday and finish another successful homestand.
Rodriguez will take his pursuit of 600 home runs on the road, after failing to reach the milestone for the third straight day. New York plays four games in Cleveland beginning Monday, then three more at Tampa Bay before returning home to face Toronto on Aug. 2.
A-Rod grounded out in the second inning, hit an RBI double in the fourth and grounded out again in the fifth -- moments before heavy rains drove off most of the crowd, along with the oppressive heat and humidity that has hovered over New York City lately.
The few thousand fans who waited out a delay of 2 hours, 32 minutes, watched Rodriguez drive in another run in the seventh, then come to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth. A-Rod fell behind in the count against reliever Blake Wood and, with the crowd on its feet, wound up getting hit near the left wrist and falling to the dirt in the batter's box.
Manager Joe Girardi and a team trainer ran out to check on him, and Rodriguez was replaced by a pinch runner as the Yankees pushed across five extra runs in the inning.
Phil Hughes (12-3) didn't return after the rain delay but still earned the win, despite needing 95 pitches to get through 5 1/3 innings in another shaky start.
Robinson Cano drove in a pair of runs with two hits, giving him 1,000 for his career, while Derek Jeter added three hits and an RBI. Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner also drove in runs.
Scott Podsednik was the bright spot for Kansas City, not only Sunday but throughout the series. He hit a pair of two-run homers for his third career multihomer game, and finished 9 for 19 over the four games with six RBIs and four stolen bases.
The Yankees gave themselves a big cushion early against Sean O'Sullivan (1-1), who beat them on Tuesday night as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. He was traded to the Royals on Thursday, allowing him to become the first big league pitcher since the late Cory Lidle in 2004 to make starts against the same opponent within six days of each other while throwing for different clubs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. O'Sullivan only allowed two hits over six innings Tuesday night, and set down the first six batters he faced in order on Sunday. Granderson finally figured him out, though, leading off the third by driving a 3-1 pitch into the bullpen in right field. The Yankees wound up scoring four times in the third inning, and after Rick Ankiel got one back with a homer in the fourth, Granderson went deep again in the bottom half. His two-homer game followed two home runs by Teixeira on Saturday, making him the sixth different New York player with a multihomer game this season. Game notesPodsednik pushed his hitting streak to 12 straight games. ... Teixeira extended his streak of reaching base to a career high 41 games. It's the longest run for the Yankees since A-Rod did it in 53 consecutive in 2004. ... It was umbrella giveaway day at Yankee Stadium for the first 18,000 fans. Many popped them open during the rain delay.