NEW YORK _ As debuts go, not bad.
Not bad at all.
Pitching for the first time in pinstripes Sunday afternoon, J.A. Happ did exactly what the Yankees hoped he would do when they acquired him earlier in the week from the Blue Jays.
The veteran gave a somewhat beleaguered rotation a lift in a 6-3 victory over the Royals in front of a sellout crowd of 46,192 at the Stadium.
The 35-year-old left-hander, after some inefficiency with his pitch count early, allowed one run and three hits over six innings.
He allowed just one hit through five innings and had a shutout going until Salvador Perez's two-out homer in the sixth.
By then, in large part because of Aaron Hicks' three-hit day, the Yankees (67-37) were in control, ahead after the Perez homer 5-1.
"My expectation is he'll go out and give us a strong outing today," Aaron Boone said beforehand. "I feel like he's more in that upper tier (of starters) than people want to acknowledge."
Other than the first inning, Happ pitched with a lead throughout.
After Royals right-hander Burch Smith retired the first two Yankees he faced in the bottom half, Didi Gregorius worked a four-pitch walk.
Hicks then lined a 0-and-1 curveball off the foul pole in right for a 2-0 lead. The blast gave Hicks, who also doubled, walked and singled in the game, his 17th homer, including his 11th in his last 35 games.
Happ provided a 1-2-3, 13-pitch shutdown second with two fly outs and a groundout.
The Royals (32-73) got their first runner in scoring position in the third. Happ hit Brett Phillips on the right arm to start the inning. After Happ struck out Drew Butera swinging at a 93-mph fastball, Rosell Herrera's groundout to second moved Phillips to second.
Happ, however, got Adalberto Mondesi to foul to the catcher to end the inning.
The Yankees tacked on in the fourth. Hicks doubled and, after Gleyber Torres and Bird flied out, Miguel Andujar lined a 1-and-2 curveball to center, the two-out RBI single making it 3-0 and improving the rookie third baseman to 22 for his last 53. Austin Romine nearly made it 5-0 but Phillips, the right fielder, brought back a drive to the wall by the catcher for the third out.
Happ responded with a perfect six-pitch fifth, which left the veteran at 76 pitches to that point.
The Yankees drove Smith from the game in the bottom of the inning. Gardner led off with a single and Stanton ripped a single to center. In came lefty Tim Hill to face Didi Gregorius, who check-swinged one to third, the ground out moving the runners. Torres' 4-3 ground out brought in Gardner to make it 4-0 (the second base umpire initially ruled Hicks had been tagged running to second on the play but that was overturned on a Yankees' challenge), and Bird's infield single to second brought in Stanton to make it 5-0.
Stanton's sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 6-1. Hunter Dozier homered off Chad Green in the seventh and Rosell Herrera took David Robertson deep in the eighth to make it 6-3.
Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth for his 28th save.
