Yankees 9, Red Sox 5
Derek Jeter closed the curtain on his illustrious career with a run-scoring infield hit in his final at-bat as visiting New York sent their captain into retirement with a victory.
Jeter, who served as the designated hitter, bounced a high-chopper off the plate that resulted in a single and drove in Ichiro Suzuki to make it 3-0 in the third. After Jeter was replaced by pinch-runner Brian McCann, he hugged his teammates and acknowledged the Fenway Park crowd before disappearing into the dugout.
A group of former Red Sox players including Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice, and Jeter contemporary Jason Varitek, were on hand for a pregame ceremony in which Jeter jogged out to the shortstop position while receiving a huge ovation. Boston's other three sports teams were also represented by captains of the past, including Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr of the Bruins, the Celtics' Paul Pierce and the Patriots' Troy Brown.
Suzuki preceded Jeter's final at-bat with a two-run triple that rolled all the way to the wall in the triangle in right-center. McCann came around to score on Mark Teixeira's sacrifice fly to complete the four-run frame and the Yankees added five in the seventh - ignited by Jose Pirela's two-run double - to take a 9-0 lead.
New York's Michael Pineda (5-5) won his second straight start after striking out 10 and allowing one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, and finished the season by yielding one run and four hits while striking out 18 in 13 2/3 frames. Clay Buchholz (8-11) lost his third straight start after permitting four runs and five hits in six innings while catcher Dan Butler recorded his first two career RBIs with a double to highlight Boston's five-run seventh.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Jeter, who lined out sharply to shortstop in his first at-bat, finished sixth all-time on the career hit list with 3,465 and a lifetime batting average of .3095, while leading the Yankees in hits, games (2,747), doubles (544) and stolen bases (358). ... Jeter played only four career games - three this season - with New York eliminated from postseason contention. ... This marks the first time in 20 years that neither the Red Sox nor Yankees made the playoffs.