New York ? The New York Yankees seemed poised for a perfect day.

After jumping out to a five-run lead in the first inning against the team with the worst record in the majors, the Yankees were cruising in front of a sellout Yankee Stadium crowd enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

And then?

“It was good to score five runs, but we stopped,” Johnny Damon said. “They retired a bunch of hitters in a row, and we couldn’t add on to the scoreboard. So it ended up being a close game.”

Indeed.

Damon hit a leadoff home run to spark the five-run first, but the Kansas City bullpen retired 15 straight New York batters to end the game, and the Yankees needed to hold off the Royals to win, 6-5, on Sunday.

The Yankees seemed to have their fourth victory in five games wrapped up when they took a 6-0 lead in the second inning. But the Royals steadily came back by scoring one run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and two in the seventh.

Kansas City Royals outfielder Emil Brown watches his seventh-inning RBI single. The hit put the Royals within a run, but they fell, 6-5, to the Yankees on Sunday in New York.

“Early in the year, we would have just caved in,” Kansas City first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. “It’s tough to battle out of a 6-0 hole, but we tried.”

In the end, however, the Royals lost for the 15th time in 16 games and saw their road record drop to 3-22. That equals the worst road start after 25 games in baseball history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Reggie Sanders doubled in Mientkiewicz to make it 6-4 in the seventh and chase New York reliever Scott Proctor. Two batters later, Emil Brown drove in Sanders with a single that made it 6-5.

Kyle Farnsworth got the last out of the inning to end the threat and retired the side in the eighth. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 12 chances, tying Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley for fourth on the all-time list with 390 saves.

“We got to Mo,” New York manager Joe Torre said. “I think the stabilizer was Farnsworth having the eighth inning he had.”

New York starter Jaret Wright gave up three runs on nine hits in 51â3 innings and said his groin felt fine.

“I think (my) location was a little off all day, but I didn’t really get tired, and I guess that’s good,” he said. “I didn’t have my good stuff, but it feels good to win those games.”