Attention, something Derek Jeter is not exactly fond of, was brought back on him Monday evening as he returned to the Yankees in Cleveland.
Only six hits from the magical 3,000 mark, an instant installment into baseball immortality, the Captain was anxious but ready to return after a calf injury sidelined him for the better part of three weeks.
Jeter led off the game, something manager Joe Girardi was frequently questioned about pre-game, but something he quickly extinguished as a problem multiple times.
Jeter's first at-bat was a slow grounder that was misplayed by third-baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, resulting in an error instead of another infield single for the Yankees shortstop.
In the bigger picture of the baseball game, one could have started watching it in the seventh inning and not known anything had ever happened. Outside of a hit by Asdrubal Cabrera, no batter reached so much as second base in the first six innings.
Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin recorded a no-hitter through the sixth, becoming the first starter since 1919 to record at least five innings in his first 29 starts.
The top of the seventh opened up the scoring as Nick Swisher, who was consistently unhappy with home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook's strike-calling, drove a gap-shot into left-center field, bringing in Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira, both of which singled beforehand.
A.J. Burnett, who had pitched beautifully in the first six frames, ran more of the tradition the Yankees hold in Progressive Field: blowing leads late in games. Like Mariano Rivera in 1997 or Joba Chamberlain and the midges of 2007, Burnett could not hold back the Indians.
The inning began to unravel when an unassuming foul ball befuddled both Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez as they let it drop. The inning continued, as former Yankee Shelley Duncan flied a single to right, driving in Grady Sizemore.
Burnett opened the leak wide open by letting up a three-run blast to another former Yankee, Austin Kearns, sending the Bombers trailing into the late innings once again.
They would not go quietly on this Fourth of July. Curtis Granderson launched a deep home run into the right-field stands in the eighth inning off of Vinnie Pestano, who had sprinted in from the bullpen to face Jeter a batter earlier.
The Indians would respond in the bottom of the eighth as Carlos Santana drove a two-run homer over the tall left-field wall. That would be enough for the second-best bullpen in baseball, as there would be no black magic woman for the Yankees in the ninth, as the Indians bullpen closed them out for a 6-3 victory.
Jeter went 0-4 in his return, and will most likely not play all three games in Cleveland to make sure his calf is completely healed.
It would also give him a good opportunity to hit his 3,000th at home as the Yankees return to the Bronx on Thursday for a four-game series with the Rays before the All-Star Break.
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