Tanaka, Jeter lead Yankees over Blue Jays 5-2

NEW YORK – Masahiro Tanaka started Jose Reyes with a 92 mph fastball, his first major league pitch since July 8. He threw 70 pitches in all and didn’t feel any pain in the right elbow that had sidelined him for 2 1/2 months.

“Obviously, I’m very relieved,” Tanaka said through a translator after leading the Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 Sunday before a boisterous sellout crowd of 48,144 on a grey, overcast afternoon.

Tanaka was only part of the attraction: It was Derek Jeter’s last weekend game at Yankee Stadium. The retiring Yankees captain received standing ovations during every at-bat, went 2 for 4 and finished his next-to-last home series 8 for 15 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs. Jeter became the first Yankee with four straight mulithit games at age 40, and he saluted the crowd after sharing postgame handshakes and high-fives with teammates.

“Hopefully he keeps getting two hits and decides he wants to play again next year,” said Brett Gardner, who put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the fifth with the Yankees’ 15,000th home run since the franchise started play in New York in 1903.

While Jeter is going, Tanaka is coming back.

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He started sensationally at 11-1 with a 1.99 ERA in his first 14 appearances. But he slumped in his next four and hadn’t pitched since scans discovered a slight tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow. Rather than opt for Tommy John surgery, which would have sidelined him for about a year, Tanaka and the Yankees chose a rehabilitation strengthening protocol.

Tanaka (13-4) responded by allowing one run and five hits in 5 1-3 innings with four strikeouts, no walks and a hit batter. He had an exceptional curveball, and his splitter was dipping as sharply as it did during the first half of the season.

“I don’t exactly remember when, but gradually as the game went on I guess I stopped thinking about it,” he said of his elbow.

Tanaka gave up a run in first when Reyes singled to right centre, took third on Jose Bautista’s ground single to right through the shifted infield and came home on Edwin Encarnacion’s double-play grounder. After Munenori Kawasaki had a one-out double in the second, Tanaka retired 11 of his next 12 batters.

“The way he pitched today, it’s a great sign,” said catcher Brian McCann, who hit home runs 14,999 and 15,001, driving in three runs.

Tanaka went to a three-ball count just once. He left with two on and tipped his cap to fans as he walked to the dugout.

“Pretty darn good,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s extremely encouraging and now we’ll try to get him to start again on Saturday.”

But will the ligament hold up?

“Are we going to know fully until five years down the road? Probably not,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “It’s possible that he can get through this for quite a while. It’s possible that it comes up and bites him, and that’s it. We’re hopeful that’s it’s the earlier scenario and that he’s going to be fine and have a nice, long career with no problems.”

New York is 4 1/2 games out for the AL’s second wild card with seven games to play, yet still drew its second straight sellout as Jeter’s admirers turned out.

Jeter’s fifth-inning single chased Drew Hutchison (10-13), and when Jeter batted in the seventh, most fans held up phones and cameras to take photographs and video. He responded with a run-scoring double down the left-field line against Todd Redmond for a 3-1 lead, and the crowd erupted with near-post-season intensity. The usual “De-rek Je-ter!” chants turned into “Thank You De-rek!” and he stole third base.

Jeter then jogged home when McCann hit his second home run of the game to make it 5-1. On Wednesday, Jeter had broken an 0-for-28 slide on the last night of a road trip.

“I’m sure,” Girardi said, “there’s a little bit of extra adrenaline going right now.”

THE FINAL DAYS: Girardi anticipates Jeter will play in all four games against Baltimore. Gates open at 4 p.m. before the night games so fans can watch Jeter take batting practice.

LAST OUT: David Robertson pitched a hitless ninth for his 38th save in 42 chances.

BUNCHING: McCann has 11 multihomer games, including two this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: OF Carlos Beltran plans to wait until after the season for surgery to remove right elbow bone spurs. … 1B Mark Teixeira was to be examined by a hand specialist Sunday.

UP NEXT

RHP Michael Pineda (3-5) starts Monday against Baltimore’s Wei-Yin Chen (16-4).