KANSAS CITY - There's no Derek Jeter to lean on right now, no Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira in the New York Yankees' high-priced lineup to provide clutch hits and big home runs.
Nope, there are just guys like Lyle Overbay filling in with aplomb.
The low-key, aw-shucks Overbay hit a two-run homer and finished with five RBI on Friday night, and Ichiro Suzuki also hit a two-run homer as the banged-up Yankees opened their only trip to Kansas City with an 11-6 rout of the scuffling Royals.
"Sometimes baseball doesn't make sense, and on a night we really needed some runs, we got them," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Everyone seemed to help out tonight."
Overbay finished with a career-high four hits, Suzuki had three hits and Chris Nelson drove in a pair of runs for the Yankees, who gave Girardi his 500th win in pinstripes.
Girardi reached the milestone in his 844th game, one fewer than Billy Martin. The only Yankees managers to reach the mark faster were Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy, Joe Torre and Miller Huggins.
"I've been blessed to have this opportunity," Girardi said. "As a child you dream about playing in the big leagues, and I don't know if you dream about managing, but as I got older, it's something I really wanted to do, and I got a great opportunity."
Phil Hughes (2-2) allowed six runs in 52â„3 innings, but still earned the victory for New York, thanks to an offense that awoke from a slumber against Wade Davis and reliever Bruce Chen.
The struggling Davis (2-3) allowed seven runs in five-plus innings as the Royals lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
"I made it look a lot harder than it should," Davis said. "When you don't command your pitches, you can make anybody look a lot better. I didn't execute my pitches."
Jarrod Dyson hit a three-run shot for the Royals, just the second homer of his career, and Mike Moustakas went deep in his second straight game. Alex Gordon also drove in a pair of runs.
But it wasn't enough offense to keep up with the Yankees, who scored six runs total during a three-game series in Colorado, but surpassed that amount with the first of five runs during the sixth inning Friday night that broke open what had been a tie game.