Jose Pirela made his major league debut for the Yankees on Monday and became the 57th person to play for the team this season, setting a club record. Now, 56 people can say they played with Derek Jeter in his final season.
With Masahiro Tanaka's first post-injury start in the books and the Yankees' playoff hopes looking less like a reality and more like a mathematician's theory, Jeter's farewell is the main show.
Michael Pineda and Pirela were worthy supporting actors. Pineda carried a one-hitter into the eighth inning, and Pirela had a night he will not soon forget. Pirela can one day tell his grandchildren that he was driven home by Jeter in his first game in the major leagues. Not in Jeter's car. Pirela was standing on second base in the fifth inning when Jeter ripped a 3-2 pitch from Wei-Yin Chen into the left-field corner, the latest shot in his six-game hitting streak, and Pirela and Brett Gardner scored.
The Yankees went on to beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-0. Jeter went 1 for 3 and is 9 for 20 on the homestand, with three doubles and six runs batted in. But it may be too late to really matter other than for sentimental reasons.
The Yankees trail the Kansas City Royals by four games for the second wild-card spot and have only six games to play. The Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners are also ahead of the Yankees in the standings.
But with a cool bite of impending autumn in the air, the Yankees continued to play well. The victory was their fifth in their last six games and featured not only Jeter's continued production, but a fine performance from Pineda.
Pineda, a big right-hander making his 12th start, was perfect through four innings and ended up allowing only one hit and one walk in seven and one-third innings, with eight strikeouts. His record is 4-5, but his earned run average is 1.93 in 70 innings.
He did not allow a base runner until J. J. Hardy's single to left field with one out in the fifth inning. But he struck out Christian Walker and got Ryan Flaherty on a ground ball to end the fifth.
He set down the Orioles again in order in the sixth, including strikeouts of Caleb Joseph and Jonathan Schoop, and fanned Alejandro De Aza leading of the seventh for his seventh strikeout.
Pirela was called up last week after Martin Prado was put on the 60-day disabled list with an appendectomy. He was put into the game batting ninth as the designated hitter, and hit a triple, scoring Ichiro Suzuki in his first at-bat. In the fifth, he singled to right with out and went to second when Gardner walked, bringing Jeter to the plate.
Before the game, Manager Joe Girardi acknowledged that he has given thought to how he will handle Jeter's final home game Thursday. At issue is whether he would to remove Jeter from the game in a way that will allow the fans to acknowledge him, similar to how he had Jeter and Andy Pettitte remove Mariano Rivera from his final game last season.
But Jeter seems to be doing well enough on his own, simply by getting big hits that have elicited huge cheers from fans at the Stadium. In the fifth, he drew the count full and then ripped a 90 mile-per-hour fastball into the left-field corner and jogged into second base standing.
Jeter and his teammates are finally playing as if they still have a good chance to make the playoffs. Mark Teixeira, for instance, took a third cortisone shot in his right wrist to help alleviate inflammation in his surgically repaired right wrist and will try to get back on the field in the last six games.
He has played in 119 games and said he is looking forward to a healthier 2015. He was asked if he could play 150 games next year.
'I never want to say I am going to play 150 games-plus again because, who knows?' he said. 'You never know what is going to happen. I know my wrist is going to be healthier next year. It's going to be stronger.'
INSIDE PITCH
MASAHIRO TANAKA played catch in the outfield Monday afternoon and said he is ready to make his next start on Saturday. Tanaka, who returned Sunday after a 10-week absence because of an elbow injury, reported no unusual soreness in his arm. C. C. SABATHIA, who is recovering from knee surgery, played catch for the first time on Monday, other than tossing a football around. He said he intends to do one bullpen session before Thanksgiving and then plans to be ready in time for spring training.
Posted by Unknown on Monday, September 22, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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