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The fans at Yankee Stadium got what they came for when Derek Jeter went deep in the sixth inning.
And then the Yankees got what they came for when Chase Headley hit a grounder through Adam Lind’s legs in the bottom of the ninth to score Antoan Richardson with the deciding run in a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays on Thursday.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” Jeter said of his final homestand. “We still have a week left trying to win games. I’ll go out there and play hard, just like I’ve done my entire career until we’re out of it.”
Jeter understands the Yankees trail the A’s by five games for the second AL wild-card spot with just 10 games left. But he at least wants to go out swinging after a rotten second half at the plate.
“This is not an easy game to play,” said Jeter, who had an infield single in the first and was robbed of a hit in the fourth on a diving catch by Jays left fielder Kevin Pillar. “Obviously this year, up until this point, hasn’t turned out how I would like. But we’ve got to keep fighting, keep battling. … I’ll play hard until we’re out of games.”
His teammates did the same.
Chris Young started the rally with a single to center and was pinch run for by Richardson, who swiped second. Brett Gardner bunted Richardson to third before Lind’s miscue with the infield in.
“I put the ball in play and it worked out,” Headley said of the run-scoring error that made a winner out of David Robertson (3-5), who pitched a scoreless ninth.
Headley said he was glad to help Jeter’s cause.
“That’s what he’s done his whole career,” Headley said. “He’s had a tough stretch, but he’s swinging the bat a lot better than it shows. It was just a matter of time with him.’’
Derek Jeter belts a solo homer in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 3-2 win over the Blue Jays Thursday night at Yankees Stadium.UPIJeter’s blast gave the Yankees a two-run lead and came on a 82 mph fastball by R.A. Dickey, who had fallen behind Jeter 3-1.
Brian McCann quickly grounded out before Jeter got a chance to come out for a curtain call.
But then Shawn Kelley coughed up the lead in the eighth. He gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Jose Bautista on an 0-2 fastball, taking the life out of the crowd announced at 34,279.
Kelley started the eighth after manager Joe Girardi made the ill-fated decision to pull Dellin Betances after the reliever had thrown just four pitches to get out of the seventh, citing Betances’ workload over the course of the season.
But it turned out fine with the victory, as Jeter tries to put the last six weeks behind him.
The struggling shortstop had snapped an 0-for-28 streak with a single against the Rays on Wednesday and hadn’t homered since Aug. 1. His last homer in The Bronx had come more than a year ago, July 28, 2013.
So after hitting the first homer of his career on Opening Day in 1996 — April 2 in Cleveland — perhaps Thursday’s was his last.
Though Girardi said he doesn’t want the rest of the season to be a Jeter farewell, there’s little hope it will be anything else.
“I don’t want to look at it like that because we still have a chance,” Girardi said before the game. “And I know our chance is not great, but as long as there’s a chance, we’ve got to keep doing what we would do to win. And that’s what he would want, too.”
Girardi wasn’t ready to produce a schedule for Jeter the rest of the way, even though it’s clear the shortstop is the main — if not only — attraction.
“I’m sure he’s trying to soak this up as much as he can,” Girardi said. “It’s really difficult to take the uniform off. He understands what’s coming.”


