Yankees 8, Royals 1: The Yankees can hit!

The Yankees have an offense?  Apparently so (although they could've fooled me).  While Michael Pineda continued to pitch well, the Yankees offense was the story of the night, as they scored eight runs and hit three homers to maintain some of their late-August momentum before a big series in Detroit.

New york got on the board first in the top of the third when, with one out and runners on the corners, Derek Jeter grounded into what could've been a double play had Jacoby Ellsbury not been running on the pitch.  Ellsbury's speed helped him beat Royals shortstop to Alcides Escobar to the bag, and while Jeter was out at first, the double play had been avoided, allowing Ichiro Suzuki (who had reached on an error earlier in the inning) to score from third.

Pineda immediately gave the run back though, allowing a leadoff homer to Mike Moustakas in the bottom of the third.  Thankfully, he got out of the inning without allowing another hit, and the homer to Moustakas would be his only real mistake of the night - Pineda was dealing, and looks to be a major boost to the rotation down the stretch.

The Yankees answered in the top of the fourth when, with one out, Stephen Drew clubbed a line drive over the fence in right to give the Yankees a one-run lead.  After a few scoreless frames, New York blew the game wide open in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs to bury Kansas City.  Martin Prado kept his hot streak going with a leadoff home run, followed by a Chase Headley (manning first tonight in place of Mark Teixeira) single. Ichiro followed Headley's hit with a single of his own, and after Zealous Wheeler grounded into fielder's choice (which saw Headley forced out at third), Ellsbury singled to right to score Ichiro from second.  Jeter then smacked a grounder that ricocheted off Shield's foot and past Escobar into left, scoring Wheeler. The Yankees still weren't done quite yet - Brian McCann flew out to shallow right and Ellsbury tagged from third.  He was initially called out at the plate, but after a good, long look at the replay, he was called safe and the Yankees took a 6-1 lead.

Pineda was chased in the seventh, but David Huff came in and made sure the Royals couldn't close the gap.  The Yankees added two more runs in the ninth, when Ellsbury pulled a liner down the first base line and just over the wall in right for a two-run homer.

The Yankees will travel to Detroit tomorrow to start a three game series with the Tigers.  Brandon McCarthy will take on Rick Porcello.

Man, it's nice to see that the Yankees remember what offense is.