Cano's grand slam leads Yankees over Royals, 10-4

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano, enough was enough.

"It's time for us to pick it up,'' Rodriguez said after Saturday's loss, another game in which the Yankees' middle of the order failed to produce.

Cano expressed confidence rather than frustration. "Everyone in this room can hit,'' he said. "We know it's going to turn around soon.''

For one afternoon, at least, the two helped make sure it did. Cano hit a grand slam and Rodriguez a three-run homer as the Yankees, aided by a much-needed quality start from Phil Hughes, salvaged some dignity from this four-game series with a 10-4 victory over the Royals.

"Today was a big day,'' said Rodriguez, whose homer in the eighth made it 10-3. "In order for us to do what we want to do, Robbie and I need to swing the bat much more like today.''

The Yankees (15-13), off Monday before starting a three-game set against the Rays Tuesday night at the Stadium, split with the Royals (9-18), who entered the series 0-10 at home.

The series started on a sobering note Thursday when Mariano Rivera tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee.

"It was huge. We couldn't have afforded another loss today,'' A-Rod said. "We came out and played with a lot better energy, and those two swings I thought were big. And Swish's, too.''

In the span of six pitches in a six-run third, Cano hit his grand slam on a low changeup, Mark Teixeira flied to the rightfield wall and Nick Swisher pulled a high fastball over the wall in right for a 7-1 lead. That knocked out Luke Hochevar (2-3).

Cano's eighth grand slam doubled his previous 2012 home run and RBI totals, giving him two and eight. The Yankees had 12 hits, getting two each from Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, A-Rod, Cano and Raul Ibañez.

"That was good to see the whole lineup produce like that,'' Cano said. "That's what you want, you want your whole team [producing]. If everybody continues like that, we're going to do a lot of good things.''

Jeter, coming off an 0-for-4 night, sent the afternoon's first pitch off the wall in right-center, giving him at least one hit in 23 of the Yankees' 28 games.

"We need to continue to swing the bats like this and pitch like this,'' he said. "We'd like all of us to be swinging the bats well each and every night. It doesn't always end up like that, but when we're all contributing, we can be tough to pitch to.''

Hughes (2-4) more than contributed to the win, lasting 62/3 innings, his longest outing of the year. The struggling righthander, who lowered his ERA from 7.48 to 6.67 while trying to hold on to his rotation spot, allowed three runs, six hits and a walk, striking out seven. His fastball, curveball and changeup were effective and he still was throwing in the mid-90s in the seventh.

"When you have that long leash, it makes you feel like you can be that workhorse-type guy and have the trust of the manager and give us some length when we need it,'' said Hughes, who threw 115 pitches, his most since 117 against the Mets on May 22, 2010. "It's a good feeling to be able to go out there and not hit a wall at 100 pitches, kind of break through that wall and put up a solid outing.''

Joe Girardi liked what he saw from Hughes, but having just received Andy Pettitte's line and nothing else from Rochester, he said he had no rotation news beyond Ivan Nova, David Phelps and CC Sabathia starting the Tampa Bay series.

Beyond that could wait. Besides, at the forefront of his mind was the hope that a struggling offense finally had been sparked.

"They have to feel good about going into the off day, about how they swung the bats today,'' Girardi said. "We needed a win to finish the road trip.''