CHICAGO _ The Yankees have won in all sorts of ways in their burst from the gate to early AL East supremacy, most frequently as king of the comeback.
The most recent example came Friday when the Yankees, trailing by two runs and down to their last strike, won it on Brett Gardner's three-run homer. That gave them their seventh victory when trailing after five innings, second-most in the big leagues behind Houston's eight.
Saturday night brought no such drama. The Yankees drove overmatched Cubs left-hander Brett Anderson from the game after one-third of an inning, tallying five runs in the first en route to an 11-6 laugher in front of 40,735 at Wrigley Field.
The Yankees (19-9), who entered the night leading the AL in runs (151) and homers (45), added to those totals in bashing 14 hits, including homers by Aaron Hicks, who had four hits, and former Cub Starlin Castro, who had three.
Though Joe Girardi said before the game that Jacoby Ellsbury will be ready to play Sunday night, it's unlikely to be at the expense of Hicks, who is in a 10-for-20 stretch.
Brett Gardner, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius each added two hits.
Aaron Judge, who entered the game with 22 hits in his last 55 at-bats, batted cleanup for the first time this season and went 0-for-5.
The Yankees are 18-5 since a 1-4 start, their best 23-game stretch since going 18-5 from June 3-28, 2012.
Entering the night, they had a plus-46 run differential, tops in the AL and second-best in the majors behind Washington's plus-50.
Rookie left-hander Jordan Montgomery happily benefited from the run support, allowing three runs (two earned), three hits and four walks in improving to 2-1, 3.81.
Anderson allowed five runs and six hits _ increasing his ERA from 6.23 to 8.18 _ before leaving the game, the Cubs announced much later, with lower-back tightness.
Six pitches into the game, the Yankees had the lead.
Leadoff man Gardner got ahead 2-and-0 before yanking one down the first-base line for a double, giving him 11 hits in his last 24 at-bats. Hicks followed with a bunt toward the first-base side of the mound and beat it out for an infield single. When Anderson's throw was in the dirt, Gardner scored the game's first run.
Castro, swinging at a first-pitch fastball, dumped an RBI double down the right-field line to make it 2-0. After Judge struck out, Sanchez pulled a 1-and-2 breaking pitch that stayed up down the third-base line for an RBI single that made it 3-0. Didi Gregorius then lined a 1-and-0 curveball to left for a single and Headley lined a two-run double to right, the Yankees' sixth hit of the inning, to make it 5-0.
A mound visit followed and Anderson soon walked off, accompanied by manager Joe Maddon and a member of the Cubs training staff.
The long delay did nothing to Montgomery, who struck out leadoff man Ben Zobrist with a slider, the start of a perfect 16-pitch inning.
The Yankees added on in the third. Sanchez led off with an infield single and Gregorius improved to 11-for-30 since returning from the DL with his second hit. Chris Carter then ripped a ground shot toward third and Kris Bryant misplayed the short hop for an error that made it 6-0.
Castro's two-run shot in the fourth, his sixth homer of the season, gave the Yankees an 8-0 lead. Hicks' three-run homer in the eighth, his sixth, made it 11-3.
The Cubs added three garbage-time runs in the eighth off Tommy Layne. Cubs catcher Miguel Montero pitched the ninth and allowed two walks but retired Gregorius, Headley and Rob Refsnyder.
