A-Rod powers Yankees past K.C.

Rodriguez's 52nd homer sends New York to 6-3 win

? The hottest hitter in the majors cannot lie. Once in a while, even A-Rod steals a glance at the scoreboard and goes “Wow!”

“Sure. Sometimes,” Alex Rodriguez said. “I’ve peeked up there a couple of times. You smile. You have to enjoy it a little bit and keep it moving.”

The Kauffman Stadium scoreboard Sunday registered A-Rod’s seventh home run in five games and his ninth in 11, as the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-3, for a three-game sweep. The victory increased the Yankees’ AL wild-card lead to four games over the Detroit Tigers.

It’s the fifth time in his brilliant 13-year career that the Yankees third baseman has homered in five straight games. With 19 games left in what he calls “a magical season,” A-Rod leads the majors with 52 home runs and 140 RBIs.

“I’m enjoying it,” said Rodriguez, who was 2-for-5 with a single. “It says a lot about the three guys who are hitting in front of me and the protection I’m getting behind me. The reason I’m getting pitched to is those guys behind me – they get a lot of respect. I just want to finish strong.”

Chien-Ming Wang earned his 18th win to remain tied for the major-league lead, and Jorge Posada hit a tiebreaking, two-run double as the Yankees won their fifth in a row and 23rd in 35 games. With Derek Jeter held out because of a sore knee, the Yankees stayed 51â2 games back of first-place Boston in the AL East.

The Red Sox beat Baltimore 3-2 behind Josh Beckett, who also has 18 wins.

Wang (18-6) gave up a three-run double to rookie Alex Gordon but went seven innings to win his fifth start in a row. Against the Royals, the right-hander is 4-0 in six career starts.

“When we tied the score we felt pretty good,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said. “But they are just on fire right now.”

Mariano Rivera earned his 25th save in 28 chances.

The Yankees are a season-high 19 games over .500 as they take a day off before resuming a crucial nine-game road trip that concludes at Toronto and Boston.

“We’re here to get to the postseason,” said manager Joe Torre. “We want to win the division. We’re going to need help for that to be accomplished. But we’re playing well right now and we just need to make sure we pay attention every day.”

A-Rod’s two-run shot off Zack Greinke in the first inning raised his career total to 516, five behind Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place all-time.

Greinke came into the game not having allowed a run in 19 straight innings and determined not to let Rodriguez beat him.

“I was planning on not pitching to him today,” Greinke said. “It was either going to be on the corner or off the plate. And he still hit it. That’s just how good he is. … It was an inch over the plate.”