MOOSIC - He'll be back.
Derek Jeter, after an admittedly uneventful debut with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Saturday night, will suit up again today as the designated hitter to take on Lehigh Valley at 1:05 p.m. at PNC Field.
The New York Yankees shortstop, playing his first game since getting four at-bats in a spring training exhibition March 23, went 0-for-2 with a walk and made just one routine play in the field during the RailRiders' 4-2 win over Lehigh Valley in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,000 fans.
"It was fun, but I didn't do much," Jeter said. "They gave me a standing ovation when I grounded out. So I would say I'm going to have a pretty fun season if they cheer for me every time I ground out."
Jeter would like to do a bit more than that, though.
He said the same things after the game that he said before it. That he felt great. That his surgically repaired ankle wasn't feeling stiff. That he could run and field and play well enough to do what he has done for 17 years and start at shortstop for the New York Yankees today. If they'd let him, of course.
But the way the game fell Saturday, he didn't get much of a shot to offer proof.
In his first at-bat in the first inning, Lehigh Valley left-hander Raul Valdes walked him on five pitches. Jeter never got more than a lead off of first before Valdes, the former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees reliever, struck out the side.
Jeter lined out on the second pitch Valdes threw him in the third inning, a sinking rocket right at second baseman Cesar Hernandez.
The most impactful moment for Jeter may have been his at-bat in the fifth, when he bounced a change-up to third baseman Cody Asche.
Asche threw Jeter out, but the captain hustled to first and, later, said his ankle felt fine after that.
For a shortstop, he had an uncommonly slow night in the field. The only play he had to make came on the last one he played, a slow roller just to his left off the bat of Cody Overbeck that he fielded and flipped to second for a force out that ended the fifth inning.
"I just wanted to see pitches and have good at-bats," Jeter said. "I just wanted to get back out there. I pretty much tested it down in Florida the last couple of weeks, and it felt good in terms of doing everything. But you just have to do it in game situations.
"I just have to get games under my belt. I don't think there's one particular thing I have to do." Even without much assistance at the plate or in the field from Jeter, the second straight comeback for the RailRiders earned them their eighth win in 11 games.
Leandro Castro's two-out, two-run bloop double down the right field line in the first inning was the most offense the IronPigs could muster against rehabbing right-hander Michael Pineda, and there was plenty of time for the RailRiders to come back.
Thomas Neal cut the lead in half in the second, ripping a double to right-center that scored Dan Johnson all the way from first.
The RailRiders scored three times in the third inning, all with two out.
Brent Lillibridge singled and stole second, scoring when Randy Ruiz singled through the hole and into left. After Johnson doubled Ruiz to third, Neal struck again, lining a two-run single to left to make it 4-2.
Pineda allowed just four hits in five innings, and relievers Yoshinori Tateyama, Jim Miller and Mike Zagurski worked four shutout innings to slam the door.