Starlin Castro homered and drove in four runs to lead the Yankees to their third straight victory, a 7-1 decision over the division-leading Orioles on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
Castro hit a two-run shot, his 11th, off Baltimore starter Vance Worley in the second inning and contributed a two-run double facing reliever Odrisamer Despaigne in the sixth. Jacoby Ellsbury also had a run-scoring single and Chase Headley hit a two-run homer, his ninth, in the eighth inning for the Yankees, who improved to 47-46, 6 1/2 games behind Baltimore in the American League East.
Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi worked 5 1/3 innings of one-run, four-hit ball in his return to the rotation, but reliever Anthony Swarzak recorded the biggest outs of the evening, working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth.