NEW YORK — Derek Jeter had one more ounce of magic in his bat.
In his last game at Yankee Stadium, he singled in the ninth inning to drive in the winning run, giving the Yankees a 6-5 win over the Orioles before 48,613 Thursday night.
The night went as if Jeter, 40, were calling the shots. It rained all day, but the rain disappeared by game time. He doubled home a run in the first inning and drove in the tiebreaking run in the seventh with a ground ball.
After the Orioles, who clinched the AL East and eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs Wednesday, hit two homers in the ninth to tie the score again, Jeter came up with the winning run in scoring position. He hit a signature single to right, the inside-out swing for which he is known, and won the game.
To start his day, Jeter got up the same time, did the same things, took the same route to Yankee Stadium on Thursday.
“Same as usual,” he said. “I’m a creature of habit.”
However, there was no doubt this game would be like no other. Jeter reported to work about 4:30 p.m. for the last time at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s going to be extremely special,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We’re all going to remember we were here.”
Jeter made sure it would be. In his first at-bat he hit an RBI double to left, barely missing a home run, and later scored in the first inning. He grounded out to shortstop and struck out in his second and third at-bats before hitting a slow grounder to the left side with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie. One run scored and another came home on a throwing error, giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead. Jeter was safe at first on the play.
Then in the ninth, he capped an impressive night with the winning hit. His final Yankee Stadium line: 2-for-5, three RBI and one run scored.
Asked what he was thinking when he came up in the ninth, Jeter said, “Don’t cry. “These last couple of weeks have gotten tougher and tougher.”
Before the game, Jeter came out to his locker and was surrounded by reporters who peppered him with the kind of questions he seems to like the least — questions about what’s going to happen.
“It’s hard for me to get all emotional, I haven’t played the game yet,” Jeter said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel.”
With three road games in Boston to follow, Jeter was still in his customary “one game at a time” mode and not offering any decisions about whether he will play this weekend, or just shut it down after his last home game. Girardi said they would talk, and Jeter would make the call.
“You guys are always trying to jump the gun,” Jeter said. “I’m worrying about tonight’s game.”
It rained throughout the day on Thursday, and the forecast earlier in the day was not good. But as the game approached, the rain stopped, the clouds began to break up, letting in some blue sky and the tarp came off for an on-time, 7 p.m. start against the Orioles.
Jeter was in his usual spot, at shortstop, batting second, as the year long “farewell tour” that has annoyed some, but was well received by Jeter fans, reached the climactic final home game. Girardi would not reveal his plans, but with the game meaningless for the Yankees, he had the flexibility to orchestrate the ending. Last year, for Mariano Rivera’s final game, he sent longtime teammates, Jeter and Andy Pettitte, out to the mound to make a pitching change, and Rivera broke down and cried.
“I was proud of Mo,” Jeter said. “I was happy for him and I was glad I was here.”
Among the cool facts of Jeter’s final game: It fell on Phil Rizzuto’s birthday, and on the date of Mickey Mantle’s final game in 1968. And Buck Showalter, who was managing the Yankees when Jeter was drafted in 1992 and played his first game at Yankee Stadium on June 2, 1995, was to be in the other dugout, managing the AL East champion Orioles.
“Take a good look,” Showalter said. “You won’t see many like him coming along.”
Jeter’s final game marks the end of an era in many ways, especially for the Yankees. He is the last of the core players from the 1996-2001 period in which they won four World Series. The Yankees, who were eliminated from the playoff race on Wednesday, need to fill several needs in the offseason, starting with the middle-of-the-diamond anchor position Jeter has manned for most of two decades.
“He always seemed to dial up whatever the need was,” Showalter said. “They’re going to miss the stats, but they’re going to miss the presence. He understands the power his words carry. A lot of people get drunk with that power, he never did.”
The rain was holding ticket prices down early Thursday, but at 9:30 a.m. there were standing room tickets for $240, and infield grandstand seats going for more than $15,000. It appeared nearly every seat was filled as the game got underway.
Distributed by MCT Information Services