Derek Jeter continued his improbable late-season surge on Monday.
Unfortunately for him and the Yankees, it's almost certainly come too late.
Jeter doubled and had a season-high three RBIs in a 5-0 victory over the Orioles as the Yankees won for the fifth time in six games in front of a crowd of 35,614.
It's a winning stretch the Yankees could have used earlier in the season during their attempt to avoid missing the postseason for a second straight year.
The shortstop, whose career will end with the Yankees' season, declined to put a number on the team's playoff odds, but when asked if he thought the Yankees were still alive in the race, he responded with a question.
"Are we?"
"Technically."
"There you go," Jeter said.
Fair enough, but even with a victory, the Yankees saw their tragic number fall to three thanks to the Royals' win over the Indians.
"The only thing we can control is our game [Tuesday]," Jeter said. "We dug ourselves a hole, obviously. We need to win."
And win.
"I really believe we have to pretty much win out," manager Joe Girardi said of his team's six remaining games. "But you never know. Strange things happen in sports. You've seen people 10 games back come back in a month's time and find a way to get in the playoffs on the last day."
The Yankees will need several strange things to happen, but they want to do their part, at least.
On Monday against the AL East-leading Orioles, they got another vintage performance from Jeter — and a brilliant one from Michael Pineda.
Jeter extended his hitting streak to six games, while Pineda retired the first 13 batters he faced before J.J. Hardy singled to left in the fifth. It was the only base runner allowed by Pineda in 7 ¹/₃ innings until he walked the last hitter he faced, Christian Walker.
Pineda also struck out a season-high eight and threw 106 pitches as he improved to 4-5 and saw his ERA drop to 1.93, seemingly unaffected by the somewhat chilly temperatures that bothered him in Boston in April, when he was caught using pine tar.
"You've got to remember, the night he pitched [in Boston] was miserable," Girardi said. "I do think it's important to get that confidence when it's cooler and it's windy out. And the wind a lot of times is the worst thing for a pitcher, even when it's cooler."
And Jose Pirela tripled in his first major league at-bat to drive in a run. Pirela became the 57th player to appear in a game for the Yankees this season, breaking the record set a year ago. It added up to plenty of support for Pineda.
He has usually been excellent when able to take the mound this season — and not miss time due to pine-tar suspensions or a muscle strain near his shoulder.
Monday's outing was the third time in his last four outings Pineda pitched at least seven innings, giving the Yankees a potential bright spot as they begin to look ahead.
But they still have a few games left to keep things interesting this Fall and Jeter intends to take advantage of the opportunity.
"I never said I couldn't play anymore," Jeter said. "I said it's time to call it a career after this season. … I'm well-aware you can only do this for so long. Careers only last so long, especially athletic careers. I've come to grips this is my last season. Now we're just trying to win a game."
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