TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Rizzo capped the Yankees’ eight-run fifth inning with a grand slam off the facing of the third deck in right, and New York extended its winning streak to eight with a 12-3 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
New York has won 15 of its last 16 and at 48-16 is off to its best start since 1998.
“It’s almost like we’re losing every day, we’re coming out here so hungry,” left-hander Jordan Montgomery said. “We’re just having the memory of a goldfish.”
The Yankees opened an 11-game lead over second-place Toronto in the AL East.
“It’s not something that you want to get too caught up in here in the middle of June,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “You just want to keep stacking up as many victories as you can.”
Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, and Joey Gallo also homered for the Yankees, who lead the major leagues with 105 home runs and have allowed 49, one more than the big league-low total of San Francisco entering Friday. New York has 17 homers in its past six games.
Montgomery (3-1) allowed two runs and three hits in six innings to improve to 3-0 in his last five outings.
“That’s a tough lineup for him to go through with all those really good right-handed hitters,” Boone said. “He was in command.”
New York, which outhit Toronto 14-5, has won Mongomery’s past five starts.
Stripling (3-2) led 1-0 in the fourth, extending his shutout streak to 16 2/3 innings, before Gleyber Torres hit an RBI double and scored on Kyle Higashioka’s grounder.
New York set a season high for runs in an inning in the fifth, when Rizzo was hit by a pitch leading off.
“When I get hit by pitches, I feel like it really locks me in more, just staying on the ball,” Rizzo said. “The last few weeks, I just needed to get…