BALTIMORE (AP) - New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was scratched from the starting lineup for Sunday night’s game against the Orioles after bruising his right knee in the opener of the split doubleheader.
The injury could keep him out of Monday’s game, too.
Jeter played in his 2,402nd game with New York on Sunday afternoon, breaking a tie with Mickey Mantle for most in a Yankees uniform. He fouled a ball off his knee in the third inning of New York’s 2-0 loss and remained in the game, but acknowledged afterward that “it hurt.”
After the first game, Jeter insisted he would play in the nightcap. He was in the original starting lineup, but was removed shortly before the first pitch and replaced at shortstop by Eduardo Nunez.
“We iced it between games and afterward, and it swelled up and became a challenge,” Jeter said after the second game.
“You guys asked me, and when I told you I was fine, I really was fine. It was really bizarre to be honest with you. After we iced it, it swelled up.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Jeter probably would not be available for the finale of the four-game series Monday night.
“He came in after the game and he iced and then he got really, really sore to the point they x-rayed it,” Girardi said. “The x-rays came back negative. After the game, maybe the adrenaline is gone, he got really sore. He’s day-to-day. I don’t think we’ll have him (Monday).”
Jeter wasn’t so sure.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “I’m hopeful to play whenever.”
Jeter had difficulty explaining why his right knee suddenly became bothersome.
“It’s a bizarre circumstance because I was ready to play,” he said. “I finished the (first) game, it felt like I had been hit like I have been hit a lot of times. Then it just blew up between games.”
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