NEW YORK _ Power, the power of replay, and Michael Pineda's pitching were all part of the Yankees' latest win.
Brett Gardner, Didi Gregorius and Chris Carter each hit home runs on Monday night, while Pineda pitched into the seventh inning of a 4-2 victory against the Royals before 35,005 fans at Yankee Stadium.
The red-hot Gregorius hit the go-ahead two-run homer off Royals lefty starter Jason Vargas in the fourth, but it was the Yankees' successful replay challenge in the seventh that prevented Kansas City from tying the game.
Adam Warren was on to protect a 3-2 lead in the seventh when the pivotal play occurred.
Jorge Soler was at second base with two out as Alcides Escobar sent a tricky grounder toward the middle that skipped off the mound. Second baseman Starlin Castro made a fine backhanded play and a quick throw to first, but Escobar was initially ruled safe by umpire Marvin Hudson.
Carter, the first baseman, made a nice backhanded scoop of Castro's throw. But Carter delayed before wheeling around to see Soler tearing for home, scoring what would have been the tying run.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi eventually rushed out of the dugout to challenge the call at first base, which took 52 seconds to overturn _ restoring the Yanks' 3-2 lead.
Carter belted a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Seth Maness; it was Carter's third homer of the year.
Gardner's ninth of the year was a third-inning solo shot, cutting the Kansas City lead to 2-1. And Gregorius continued his onslaught against left-handed pitching with two more hits against Vargas (5-3), charged with three runs in six innings.
Aaron Judge (walk) was at first base when Gregorius sent his second homer of the year soaring into the second deck in right field, giving the Yankees (26-16) a 3-2 lead. It was also Gregorius's sixth straight hit, following his 4-for-4 performance in Sunday's 3-2 win at Tampa Bay.
Pineda (5-2) gave up two runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings, with a walk. He struck out six batters.
Both runs off Pineda came in the third inning, when Jorge Bonifacio's leadoff home run and a RBI double by Escobar scoring Merrifield (infield hit off Pineda's right leg) gave the Royals (18-26) a 2-0 lead.
The Yanks defeated Vargas last Wednesday at Kansas City and Gardner got the scoring started on Monday, having already surpassed his 2016 home run total of seven.
"He got off to a good start and then he had that collision (at first base in April)," Girardi said. "I'm going to blame it on the collision because I can't really put my finger on why he got off to a good start swinging the bat well and then all of a sudden he went into a little funk.
"Gardy's one of those guys that is going to play beat up and is not going to really tell you how he feels. Maybe that had something to do with it."
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