MAJOR LEAGUES
Derek Jeter, the beloved Yankees captain in the midst of his last regular-season homestand, on Saturday gave fans another milestone to remember, but New York ultimately fell short against Toronto.
Jeter, who will retire at the end of this season, moved into sole possession of ninth place on Major League Baseball’s all-time runs scored list in the third inning, his 1,920th career run taking him past Alex Rodriguez.
Photo: USA Today
With two outs, Jeter reached base on an infield single that glanced off of the glove of Blue Jays second baseman Steve Tolleson.
He moved to second on a wild pitch and slid into home on New York catcher Brian McCann’s single to left.
Jeter, Francisco Cervelli and McCann drove in a run apiece for the Yankees, but it was not enough in a 6-3 defeat that ended New York’s three-game winning streak.
Danny Valencia knocked in two runs for the Blue Jays, who snapped a six-game skid.
Jose Bautista went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, four runs scored and three walks.
Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman gave up two runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in six innings.
Trailing 2-1, Toronto scored three runs in the sixth to take the lead for good.
Bautista led off the seventh with a homer to make it 5-2. The Blue Jays tacked on an insurance run in the ninth when Navarro’s single scored Bautista.
In the bottom of the ninth, the sellout crowd of 47,292 at Yankee Stadium was chanting Jeter’s name as he went to the plate to face up against Toronto relief pitcher Brandon Morrow.
Jeter belted a double to left that scored Brett Gardner, but Morrow was lifted for Casey Janssen, who recorded the final two outs.
Since snapping an 0-for-28 streak on Wednesday, Jeter has seven hits from 15 at-bats.
His batting average is up to .254 and he has 3,457 career hits.
“He’s turned it around again,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “You’re seeing it again.”
“The guy never stops fighting and never [stops] believing in himself,” he said. “Obviously ... it’s an attitude that you want in your players.”
Yankees fans might be getting their last glimpse of Jeter at home in this series and next week’s series against Baltimore.
The Yankees finish the season with three games against American League East rivals Boston — and New York are 4.5 games back in the race for an AL wild-card berth with only eight games to play.
ROYALS 2, TIGERS 3
Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers won their appeal on a wild play, and Joe Nathan escaped a ninth-inning jam to hold off the Kansas City Royals and boost their AL Central lead.
The Tigers increased their edge to 2.5 games over the Royals.
Detroit, seeking their fourth straight division title, have won 13 of 18 against the Royals this year, including eight of nine at Kauffman Stadium.
Scherzer (17-5) outpitched James Shields (14-8). The Royals put two runners on against Nathan, but he retired Nori Aoki and pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez on grounders for his 33th save in 40 tries.
It was 1-1 in the sixth when a line drive and a wild throw led to an appeal toss and a pair of umpire discussions that wound up ruling that a Royals runner had left third base too soon.
In other games on Saturday, it was:
‧ Royals 2, Tigers 3
‧ Cubs 8, Dodgers 7
‧ Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 1
‧ Phillies 3, Athletics 0
‧ Brewers 1, Pirates 0
‧ Padres 3, Giants 2
‧ Astros 10, Mariners 1
‧ Angels 8, Rangers 5
‧ Indians 7, Twins 3
‧ Cardinals 8, Reds 4
‧ Nationals 3, Marlins 2
‧ Orioles 7, Red Sox 2
‧ Mets 4, Braves 2
‧ Rays 3, White Sox 1
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