Yankees Beaming with Joy to Be Home, 8-4

The only object that dropped out of the sky at Yankee Stadium on Friday night was Darryl Strawberry’s towering home run.

Back in their own ballpark, closed for 11 days after a 500-pound expansion joint crashed from the upper deck, the New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers, 8-4, for their 12th win in 13 games.

Owner George Steinbrenner watched the first five innings in the same section where the chunk of steel and concrete fell and was surrounded by half a dozen fans wearing hard hats.

“It was great,” Steinbrenner said. “It was like old times when you’re a kid, going with a bunch of guys.”

Several other construction helmets were scattered throughout the crowd of 26,173, which included Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

All things considered, it was a rather tame night until the eighth, when the benches cleared after New York catcher Joe Girardi angrily headed toward Raul Casanova, who had just scored on a two-run double by Bobby Higginson.

The incident occurred moments after Tiger Manager Buddy Bell argued with plate umpire Jim Evans, claiming New York reliever Mike Stanton had hit Joe Randa with a pitch in apparent retaliation for Doug Bochtler plunking Tino Martinez.

David Cone (2-1) pitched the Yankees to their fourth straight victory, improving the AL’s best record to 13-5.

Strawberry’s homer into the upper deck in right field highlighted a four-run first inning.

Kansas City 11, Texas 4--Jeff King hit a three-run homer in the Royals eight-run third inning off John Burkett at Kansas City.

Rookie Larry Sutton had two hits and an RBI for the Royals.

Texas stranded 12 runners and has lost two straight games for the first time this season.

Burkett (1-3) retired the first six hitters he faced, but gave up eight runs and seven hits in the third inning.

Burkett gave up 11 runs and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings. All 11 runs were earned, giving the right-hander the club record for earned runs in a game.

Toronto 3, Chicago 1--Jose Canseco hit his eighth homer and the Blue Jays turned five double plays at Chicago to end a three-game losing streak.

Pat Hentgen (3-1) scattered five hits in seven innings to beat Jaime Navarro for the second time this season. The two matched up April 18 in Toronto’s 9-4 win.

Randy Myers pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Boston 7, Cleveland 5--Darren Bragg continued to rip Cleveland pitching and Tim Wakefield overcame a poor first inning at Cleveland.

Boston (15-6), off to its best start through 21 games since 1946, has won five consecutive and 12 of 13.

Bragg hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, giving him seven hits in his last 11 at-bats against Cleveland. He had his first career four-hit game against the Indians on April 19.

Wakefield (1-1) retired 16 straight after yielding three runs and four hits to the first four batters he faced.

Seattle 4, Minnesota 2--Edgar Martinez, homerless since opening day, connected twice at Seattle as the Mariners reached .500 for the first time since April 8.

The Mariners (11-11) are 8-1 since a seven-game losing streak.

Martinez homered in the second inning, then combined with Glenallen Hill in the seventh to hit consecutive homers off Bob Tewksbury (2-3). It was the 13th multihomer game for Martinez.

Ken Cloude (3-1) opened the game with nine straight balls, then retired 10 consecutive batters. Cloude gave up one run and five hits in 7 1/3 innings. Bobby Ayala gave up an RBI single to Marty Cordova in the ninth but hung on for his fifth save in six chances.