Yankees break out with four homers as Carlos Carrasco delivers in win over Royals

All the Yankees needed to get their bats going again was to come in out of the cold.

With the game-time temperature on Monday night nearing an almost balmy 60 degrees, the Yankees pounded Kansas City right-hander Seth Lugo for four solo homers in a 4-1 win at the Stadium.

All of the home runs came from the left side. It was their biggest home run outburst since they hit four in the third game of the season, and it came at a good time for a Yankee team that entered the night having lost five of seven games.

Carlos Carrasco also had his best outing of the young season, limiting the Royals to just a solo homer by Bobby Witt Jr. in the first inning of his five-inning outing. And the bullpen delivered four scoreless innings in the two-hitter, as Devin Williams picked up the save.

Carrasco, the veteran right-hander, allowed just one hit — the Witt homer — before leaving after 79 pitches.

The outing was a vast improvement over Carrasco’s previous start, when he gave up three home runs.

And with Clarke Schmidt set to take the injured Marcus Stroman’s spot in the rotation — and no other help on the horizon — the Yankees may continue to rely on Carrasco.

The victory came against the perfect elixir for the Yankees: an AL Central opponent, as they improved to 26-9 since 2024.

The night got off to a rough start for the Yankees and Carrasco, who walked two of the first three batters of the game.

But he got out of the 26-pitch top of the first without allowing a run and retired seven in a row following his first-inning walk to Vinnie Pasquantino before Witt took him deep with two outs in the third, ending a 10-pitch at-bat with a shot into the left field seats.

Pasquantino nearly made it back-to-back homers for the Royals, but Aaron Judge was able to catch up to his fly ball on the warning track in right.

The Yankees tied the game with one out in the fourth, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his second homer in as many games, a blast into the Yankee bullpen in right-center.

Trent Grisham gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a leadoff homer to right in the fourth to snap an 0-for-9 skid.

Ben Rice followed with his fifth homer of the year two batters later and Austin Wells added another shot with two outs in the inning, as the Yankees went deep four times off Lugo, who had given up just one in 16 ²/₃ innings in three starts prior to Monday.

After Carrasco retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced, the bullpen took over to start the sixth, as Fernando Cruz retired all four batters he faced, fanning three, before giving way to lefty Tim Hill.