New York Yankees Stay Ahead of Red Sox in AL East After Both Win on Road

Russell Martin hit two home runs to lead the New York Yankees to an 8-1 win over the Minnesota Twins in a Major League Baseball game.

The victory keeps the Yankees atop the American League East division, a half-game ahead of the Boston Red Sox who defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-1.

Martin hit a solo home run in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1, and then drove in Jorge Posada with a homer in the sixth as the Yankees moved ahead 6-1. Mark Teixeira capped the scoring in the ninth with a double that sent home Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson.

Trevor Plouffe hit a solo homer in the first inning for the Twins’ only run at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Phil Hughes (4-4) allowed two hits and one run in 7 2/3 innings, while striking out two. Kevin Slowey (0-1) gave up six runs on nine hits and struck out four batters in 5 2/3 innings.

At Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, Boston’s Darnell McDonald hit a triple to drive in Carl Crawford and tie the score 1-1, and then reached home on a sacrifice fly by Jacoby Ellsbury to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a three-run homer in the fifth while Ellsbury scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly and Mike Aviles scored on an error in the eighth inning.

The Yankees improved to 76-47, while the Red Sox stand at 76-48.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net