Cody Bellinger lifts two of Yankees' four homers, Will Warren cruises in 13-4 win over Royals

(Brad Penner - Imagn Images)

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Cody Bellinger lifts two of Yankees' four homers, Will Warren cruises in 13-4 win over Royals

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Cody Bellinger lifts two of Yankees' four homers, Will Warren cruises in 13-4 win over Royals

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Cody Bellinger lifts two of Yankees' four homers, Will Warren cruises in 13-4 win over Royals

(Brad Penner - Imagn Images)

The Yankees cruised to their second win in a row, beating the Royals 13-4 on Saturday afternoon in the Bronx.

Here are some takeaways...

• Aaron Boone said pregame that Amed Rosario was in the lineup against a lefty over Ryan McMahon because he earned the opportunities. Rosario immediately made the decision pay off, smacking the first of three homers to open the scoring and a commanding advantage in the bottom of the second.

Rosario added an RBI single later in the game, bringing his OPS to .856 on the season.

• The other two homers came left-on-left and landed in the second deck. First Cody Bellinger crushed a two-run shot, then Ben Rice cranked a 398 foot solo blast of his own, making it 5-0 Yanks. For Rice, it was his seventh homer of the season and his second against left-handed pitching.

Bellinger reached four times, homering twice, doubling, drawing a walk, and driving in five.

• New York tacked on again an inning later, as back-to-back extra base-hits from Jose Caballero and J.C. Escarra resulted in the sixth run of the game. Escarra has gotten off to a bit of a slow start with the bat, but he doubled home Caballero, was gifted a triple that was later ruled an error, and then drove in another with a legit triple in the seventh.

Escarra finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of extra-base knocks and three RBI.

• Working with the big league for most of the game, Will Warren continued his strong start to the season. The righty found himself in immediate trouble, giving up a double on the first pitch he threw, but he danced around it with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout. Warren cruised from there, retiring the next six hitters before allowing a leadoff single in the fourth.

He quickly erased that baserunner, picking Bobby Witt Jr. off first to close another scoreless frame. The 26-year-old gave up another leadoff hit in the fifth, but then went on another run where he retired the next seven hitters in order before allowing a one out knock in the top of the seventh.

Two batters later rookie Carter Jensen broke up the shutout, lifting a two-run homer to right. Warren responded by setting down the next two batters easily, ending his day with just those two runs allowed on five hits and no walks while matching his career-high with 11 strikeouts.

The youngster is down to a 2.49 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with 31 strikeouts through five starts.

• Paul Blackburn saved the Yankees' bullpen by eating the final two innings, but he gave up a pair of runs on a walk and two hits in the top of the ninth.

• It wasn't all pretty for New York, as Jazz Chisholm Jr's struggles continued. Boone said pregame that he thought the slumping infielder wasn't too far off the plate, but he went hitless in four at-bats with a pair of strikeouts in this one, bringing his average down to .149 on the season.

• Royals manager Matt Quatro was ejected in this one after arguing Warren balked when he appeared to not come set before a pickoff attempt at second base.

Game MVP: Cody Bellinger

New York's offense exploded in general, but Bellinger paced them with his five RBI.

Highlights

What's next

Ryan Weathers takes the ball as the Yanks go for the sweep against Cole Ragans and the Royals on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.