NEW YORK: Starlin Castro hit a third-inning grand slam off Indians starter Josh Tomlin that gave the Yankees a six-run lead, Mark Teixeira got two hits after tearfully announcing this will be his final big-league season and New York beat Cleveland 13-7 Friday night.
Jacoby Ellsbury had his first four-hit game since May 3 last year, and Michael Pineda (6-10) won for the third time in four outings following a six-start winless streak, allowing four runs and six hits in six-plus innings.
New York’s Gary Sanchez made his first league start behind the plate and threw out Jason Kipnis and Mike Napoli trying to steal second base in the first two innings. The rookie, called up from the minors on Wednesday, doubled in the fifth for his first big-league RBI and walked with the bases loaded in the sixth.
The Yankees had 16 hits, including at least one by every starter, and the Indians failed to retire New York in order in any inning.
Cleveland lost for the fourth time in five games, and its AL Central lead over second-place Detroit was cut to two games. Tomlin (11-4) allowed a season-high seven earned runs and nine hits in 4⅔ innings and is 3-3 in 10 outings since an 8-1 start.
Slowed by injuries in the last five seasons, Teixeira said he will retire after this season at age 36. He doubled in the first inning and legged out a single in the third on a ball stopped by Kipnis, the second baseman, in short right field. At .202, Teixeira’s average reached .200 for the first time since before play on May 20.
Brian McCann hit an RBI double in the third and, with runners at second and third, Tomlin intentionally walked Chase Headley. Two pitches late, Castro sent a cutter over the right-field scoreboard for his 12th homer this season and first career slam.
Tomlin has allowed 26 homers, tied for the big-league lead with Kansas City’s Ian Kennedy and Chris Young, and Toronto’s R.A. Dickey.
Chris Gimenez, a .198 hitter coming in, hit a three-run homer in the Cleveland fifth, his third home run this season.
Left-hander Shawn Morimando, recalled before the game, made his second big-league appearance and gave up four runs while getting three outs as the Yankees stretched their lead to 11-4. He walked four in a two-run sixth inning, then gave up Aaron Hicks’ leadoff homer and Brett Gardner’s stand-up triple in the seventh.
Morimando allowed two runs over 3⅔ innings at Toronto on July 2 in his big-league debut and has an 11.57 ERA.
Miller returns to NYC
Five days after he was traded, Andrew Miller was back at Yankee Stadium with the Indians.
“It’s kind of weird,” the reliever said before Friday’s series opener. “It’s not the most exciting thing to pitch against these guys after playing with them for the last year and a half.”
Miller signed a $36 million, four-year contract with the Yankees before the 2015 season, saved 36 games, then was bumped back to the eighth inning for much of this year after the Yankees acquired Aroldis Chapman from Cincinnati.
Miller formed the Yankees No Runs DMC bullpen trip with Chapman and Dellin Betances. The T-shirts the Yankees had been selling for $39.99 were gone from the stadium team stores Friday.
“It was neat. I’ve never been part of a marketing effort, I don’t think,” Miller said.
With the Yankees’ record around .500, they traded Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for three prospects and pitcher Adam Warren on July 25, then dealt Miller six days later to the AL Central leaders for four prospects.
“I think CC made it a lot easier on me,” Miller said in a reference to Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, who pitched for the Indians from 2001-08.
“I went by the clubhouse and was packing my bags, and he told me I was going to love it and the people and the organization were great, the city was great, this and that. He put me in contact with a couple people ... and I think that kind of eased things a little and took a little bit of the nerves out of it.”
Miller, a 31-year-old left-hander, joined his sixth big-league team. He pitched for Detroit (2006-07), Florida (2008-10), Boston (2011-14) and Baltimore (2014) before signing with New York.
“Obviously, we’re all excited to see him, but maybe not so excited to see him in a game,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s a guy that impacted our clubhouse and our team in a year and a half as much as anyone I’ve ever seen.”
Girardi praised Miller for “his willingness to say, ‘I’ll step down. I don’t need to close. Let’s just do whatever it takes to win here.”’
Miller’s young son Max will miss playing in the Yankee Stadium family room. But Dad already has adjusted to life after the Yankees. He was unshaven.
“It’s more just me being lazy. I think I’m not a huge fan of shaving,” he said. “If I don’t have to, I probably won’t very often. But it’s not any sort of statement or anything.”
Still sitting
Even with the big lead, the Yankees didn’t use Alex Rodriguez, who has one start and seven at-bats since July 22. He is stuck at 696 career home runs.
Streaking
Francisco Mejia, a 20-year-old Indians catching prospect, doubled in the first inning for Class A Lynchburg, extending his hitting streak to 47 games. The first 22 games of the streak were for Class A Lake County.