NEW YORK _ Giancarlo Stanton paused to watch for a moment at home plate, getting a good look at the punishment he administered to a fifth-inning breaking ball.
It's been a rough couple of April homestands for the newest Yankees slugger, but there were nothing but cheers for Stanton and his mates in Monday night's 14-1 romp over the Twins at Yankee Stadium.
Stanton's fifth home run of the year was a monstrous shot, tacking onto the Yankees' lead and sending Minnesota (8-9) toward its fourth straight loss.
Didi Gregorius put the exclamation point on the evening, belting his second career grand slam in the eighth and responding to chants of "Didi-Didi" with a curtain call wave.
Masahiro Tanaka pitched into the seventh inning, yielding just one run _ a fifth-inning, two-out RBI single by Brian Dozier, who has hit safely in all 17 games this year.
Miguel Andujar continued his tear of extra-base hits, belting a home run and a double and further declaring he's the Yankees third baseman for keeps, just as Brandon Drury (migraines, blurred vision) is set to begin a minor-league rehab assignment this week.
And playing in his second career game, rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres joined the party leading off the eighth, softly lining a single to center for his first Major League hit, after an 0-for-7 start.
As the Yankees (12-9) ran to their third straight win, Stanton might just be getting warmed up.
On base all five times, with three runs scored, Stanton (4-for-4, 2 RBI) had a signature moment with one fifth-inning swing.
There were two out in the fifth when Stanton unloaded on a hanging breaking ball by Jake Odorizzi.
The right-handed starter's last pitch of the game soared well into the left field bleachers for a 5-1 Yankees lead. Stanton had an RBI single in a three-run seventh, which included Tyler Austin's two-run double.
Austin later belted a two-run homer off Twins center fielder Ryan LaMarre, summoned to get the final out in the Yanks' six-run eighth.
Beginning with leadoff man Brett Gardner's four-pitch walk, the Yankees started a path toward a three-run first inning against Odorizzi, a familiar foe from his Rays' days.
And the scoring began with two out.
Fighting back from an 0-and-2 count, Stanton drew a walk and Sanchez made Odorizzi pay, slamming a two-run double off the Plexiglas fence in front of Minnesota's bullpen _ some 400 feet away in left center.
Next up, Aaron Hicks barely checked his swing on a two-strike pitch before lashing an RBI single to right for a 3-0 lead.
In his fifth start of the year, Tanaka dialed up his best start yet, and halted what was beginning to resemble a disturbing flashback to last spring _ when his command issues started to balloon his ERA.
Over his previous two starts at Boston and against Miami, Tanaka combined to yield 12 earned runs on 15 hits _ three of them homers _ in 10 innings.
And that put Tanaka's ERA at 6.45 entering Monday night, highlighting what has become a familiar theme; if he's forced to throw his fastball in hitters' counts, the results aren't going to be pretty.
Consistently ahead on Monday night, Tanaka (3-2) received a healthy ovation for his 6.2 innings, yielding three hits and two walks, with five strikeouts in a 91-pitch effort.
By contrast, the Yankees forced Odorizzi (1-2) to throw a whopping 106 pitches in just 4 2/3 innings.
Andujar, again and again
On the heels of Sunday's four-hit game, the extra-base hits kept coming for Andujar, who is squaring pitches up at a devastating pace.
Leading off the second inning, Andujar attacked the first pitch he saw from Odorizzi _ a smash into the lower left field seats for a 4-0 lead. It was Andujar's third homer of the homestand.
Andujar followed by slashing a sixth-inning double against side-arming reliever Trevor Hildenberger.
To that point, Andujar was 15-for-27 (.556) with 12 extra-base hits _ eight of them doubles _ over his last seven games.
