Derek Jeter finally made his season debut yesterday at Yankee Stadium and his twice-fractured left ankle made it through the 8-4 win over the Royals just fine.
The same can’t be said for his right quadriceps.
The shortstop felt the quad tighten up running to first base in his third at-bat and then was removed after jogging to first in his next plate appearance.
“It’s not frustrating yet,” said Jeter, who was scheduled to get an MRI exam. “We’ll find out. … I don’t think it’s a big deal, so I’m hoping for the best.”
Perhaps, but it’s not exactly the way Jeter wanted his much-delayed season to begin, and it put a bit of a damper on the Yankees’ second straight win.
“These are the things you’re concerned about,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I think you’re always a little bit nervous when a guy comes back from a leg injury.”
If Jeter is able to play tonight against the Twins and lefty Scott Diamond, Girardi said he’s inclined to use him as a designated hitter again after initially planning to play him at shortstop.
PHOTOS: JETER RETURNS TO YANKEES LINEUP
Before the quad injury, Jeter had mixed results in his first game since crumpling to the ground with his original ankle fracture during Game 1 of the ALCS last October.
He reached on an infield hit in the first, advanced from first to third on Robinson Cano’s chopper up the middle and scored on Vernon Wells’ sacrifice fly.
“Everything felt good up until that point,” Jeter said, admitting he was “nervous” before the game.
Jeter also said the quad injury had nothing to do with his unexpected call-up late Wednesday night after Travis Hafner became unavailable for today’s game with an injured left foot.
“I’ve run all over the place the last three weeks, so I don’t think it’s anything to do with that,” said Jeter, who added he slept just 2 1/2 hours before the game after getting to New York at 4 a.m. and waking up at 6:30 — unable to get back to sleep.
Otherwise, it was another good day for the offense, which scored eight runs for a second consecutive game.
Andy Pettitte put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole in the first, but the Yankees rallied to take the lead with a four-run fifth. Lyle Overbay’s bases-loaded, two-run single put the Yankees up 5-4 and helped make a winner of Pettitte.
Despite having surrendered at least four runs in each of his last six outings, the Yankees have won Pettitte’s last three.
Now, the Yankees have to hope for the best on Jeter, who played in just four rehab games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before general manager Brian Cashman called him late Wednesday night.
Jeter and Cashman chatted as Jeter was going back to his hotel.
“All I had to hear from him was, ‘Hey I’m ready,’ ” Cashman said before yesterday’s game. “He said that and I said, ‘All right, head on back.’ ”
Just like that, Jeter was on his way to The Bronx.
“He’s going to finish his rehab off in the big leagues,” Cashman said. “Everybody knows this is where he needs to be. He knew the game plan, but I talked to him earlier in the week and said, ‘Hey, it could be sooner.’ And it turned out that way.”
Cashman said he was confident it was the right decision.
“We’re better with him here, period,” Cashman said. “Regardless of what today’s outcome is.”
And the outcome was not entirely unexpected from a 39-year-old who didn’t have a typical preparation for the season.
“In a perfect world, he’d have a month of spring training,” Girardi said. “This has not been a perfect world around here this year with some of things we’ve had to deal with.”
Their imperfect world remained that way for at least another day.