Alex Rodriguez hit his 599th home run and the New York Yankees ripped the Kansas City Royals 10-4 on Thursday night.

Rodriguez belted a solo shot in the seventh inning to increase the Yankees’ lead to 6-4. He also had two doubles and finished with four RBIs on the night as New York won for the 12th time in its last 15 games.

CC Sabathia (13-3) won his ninth straight decision despite allowing 11 hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings. But Sabathia worked out of several jams and allowed four runs and fanned nine.

The Yankees took the lead for good in the fifth inning. With the score tied 3-3, Jorge Posada doubled to score Robinson Cano and Posada later scored on a sacrifice fly by Marcus Thames.

Derek Jeter hit an inside-the-park homer in the third inning.

Kansas City starter Bruce Chen (5-4) took the loss. He allowed nine hits and five runs in six innings.

Six different players had two hits in the game for the Royals, who have dropped eight of 10 contests.