NEW YORK _ Didi Gregorius' April made him an early-season MVP candidate.
His season quickly spiraled from there as a mostly horrendous May followed.
June had been a tad better but the power from April was still MIA.
That changed in a loud way Tuesday night as Gregorius homered twice off Tanner Roark in a 3-0 victory over the Nationals in front of 44,220 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (43-19), who also got 52/3 scoreless innings from CC Sabathia, are 34-10 since their 9-9 start. Aroldis Chapman retired the side in order in the ninth for his 18th save.
Sabathia (4-1) continued to be a stopper. The 37-year-old, who came in 10-0 with a 2.71 ERA since the start of 2017 in 16 regular-season starts after a Yankees loss, allowed four hits and three walks, striking out three. Sabathia departed to a standing ovation after Michael A. Taylor reached on an infield single with two outs in the sixth.
An interesting side story took place in the eighth when Dellin Betances hit Bryce Harper with an 0-and-2 breaking pitch on a left toe. Harper, who in the past has expressed his love of the Yankees growing up but was booed each time he came up Tuesday, staggered halfway up the first-base line before walking back toward the dugout, taking himself out of the game. There was no immediate word on his condition.
Regardless, this night belonged to Gregorius, whose outburst gave him 13 homers and made him the first shortstop in franchise history to record three multi-homer games in the same season.
Gregorius hit .330 with a 1.161 OPS, 10 homers and 30 RBIs in April, only to hit .151 with a .401 OPS, one homer and five RBIs in May.
But he put the Yankees up early, hammering a 1-and-1 curveball from Roark (3-7) with one out in the second, his first homer since May 23. He added his second, a second-deck shot, in the sixth to make it 3-0. Roark allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.
The Nationals (36-28) put two on with two outs in the second. Sabathia struck out Daniel Murphy and Mark Reynolds on sliders but Taylor walked and Pedro Severino singled to left. Sabathia, however, got Wilmer Difo to fly to center for the third out.
After Gregorius' first homer, Aaron Hicks drew a walk and Neil Walker, starting at third because Aaron Boone liked the matchup against Roark, slammed a grounder second baseman Difo couldn't handle. Hicks took third on the hit, which improved Walker to 6-for-15 in his career vs. Roark, and Walker went to second on the ensuing throw to third. Austin Romine, getting the start for the slumping Gary Sanchez, whom Boone said was "banged up," hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Sabathia stranded two more in the third, giving him five stranded through three.
The veteran turned in his first clean inning in the fourth, ending the frame by pouncing on Severino's trickler to the right of the mound and firing a strike to nip the catcher at first.
Sabathia was back in trouble in the fifth. Gregorius started the inning by making a fine over-the-shoulder grab of Difo's pop-up and Eaton followed with another pop to short, this one an easier play for Gregorius. Sabathia hit Harper square on the right elbow _ causing the right fielder to double over in pain _ but got out of the inning when Anthony Rendon scorched a liner right at Gregorius.
The Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom half but came up empty. Romine led off with a single and Gleyber Torres followed with one of his own. Brett Gardner flied to center, deep enough to get Romine to third, and Aaron Judge walked for a team-best 47th time to load the bases. Bird, swinging at a first-pitch fastball, flied to short left, not close to deep enough to get Romine in. Giancarlo Stanton, who went 0-for-4 on the night, heard plenty of boos with a groundout to short.
