Bryan Hoch / MLB.com KANSAS CITY -- CC Sabathia kept his cool on a sweltering evening at Kauffman Stadium, pitching commanding ball into the eighth inning to pick up his team-leading 15th victory as the Yankees defeated the Royals, 4-3, on Thursday. The ace left-hander limited Kansas City to three runs in 8 2/3 innings, posting a win for the 11th time in 14 starts and reclaiming a share of the American League wins lead with the Rays' David Price, moving closer to what would be Sabathia's first career 20-win season. Kansas City notched its only run against Sabathia in the fourth inning, as Alex Gordon stroked a two-out double and scored on Mike Aviles' RBI single to center. A perennially strong second-half performer, Sabathia slammed the door from there, walking two and striking out three. The Yankees got to Kansas City starter Bruce Chen for three runs and eight hits in five-plus innings, including Austin Kearns' first home run as a Yankee in the fourth. New York touched the journeyman lefty for a run in the second inning as Robinson Cano worked a one-out walk, moved up on a Kearns hit and scored on Granderson's RBI single. The Yankees tacked on in the third as Derek Jeter legged out an infield single, went to third on a Nick Swisher hit and scored on Mark Teixeira's sacrifice fly. Kearns teed off on Chen in the fourth for a solo homer to left to make it a 3-1 game, and Alex Rodriguez added an RBI groundout in the seventh against Kanekoa Texeira, who attended Spring Training with the Yankees this year as a Rule 5 Draft selection. Granderson's progress may have been the most encouraging sign for the Yankees on a sweltering evening, as the center fielder went 2-for-3 with a walk, including a pair of hits off the left-handed Chen. Mired in a season-long battle at the plate through his first year as a Yankee, Granderson turned to hitting coach Kevin Long on Tuesday for what Long called a "complete reformation" of Granderson's hitting mechanics, a set of slight tweaks that he brought into Thursday's action.
