Jeter gets a double in 5-1 loss to Rays

Flashbulbs flickered, dotting Yankee Stadium with bright bursts of intermittent light. The sellout crowd of 47,787 rose to its feet almost in unison each time Derek Jeter approached the batter's box. His pursuit of 3,000 hits finally returned to the Bronx Thursday night, and Yankees fans were eager to witness history.

But Jeter remains two hits short of the milestone, grounding out in his final four at-bats after a first-inning double in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays,

Jeter received a standing ovation after he roped a scorching double to left-center to lead off the first inning. That made him 6-for-10 with three doubles against 6-9, 260-pound Rays starter Jeff Niemann (4-4).

For the first time since his quest began, Jeter said, he consciously thought about the milestone after the double. "You think about it because everywhere you go, there are signs and people are mentioning it, but it's still a ways away,'' he said. "But after the first one, yeah, I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't think it was attainable today."

With runners on second and third and two outs in the second, Jeter grounded out to third. He seemed destined to record hit No. 2,999 in the fifth when he grounded the ball sharply down the third-base line. But Sean Rodriguez backhanded it near the bag to rob him of a second hit.

"It hurt my feelings a little bit,'' Jeter joked. " . . . They were joking on the bench that I hit two or three balls a year down the third-base line and he caught one of them. It was unfortunate, but I thought it was going to get by him at first."

Jeter grounded out to short in the seventh and received a bonus at-bat in the ninth against former teammate Kyle Farnsworth. With the Rays an out away from victory, Brett Gardner struck out on a wild pitch that went to the backstop and reached first. But with runners on second and third, Jeter grounded out to third to end it.

SEE PHOTOSDerek Jeter timeline

Asked how difficult it is to tune out the fans and the flashbulbs, Jeter said: "Yeah, it's difficult. I'll give you a little bit more after I get it. I don't want to say too much right now because I still have to face these pitchers."

Said Nick Swisher, "He's right there on the doorstep. Either way, I know all of us are excited to see it.''

Jeter remained low-key before the game, refusing to think too far into the future. He admitted relief and elation likely will be intertwined the moment he reaches 3,000, and he expected the Stadium to be rocking.

"It just was a couple years ago when I was approaching Gehrig [the record for hits by a Yankee], the crowd was outstanding," he said. "The thing that stands out, I remember the day I did it, how much it rained and how many of the fans actually stayed in the stadium and stuck around for the game. So I would anticipate them being pretty animated."

Yankees fans were more than animated Thursday night. They groaned with every swing-and-miss by Jeter and cheered loudly each time he hustled down the line on his four grounders.

"It's an exciting time for all of us," Joe Girardi said before the game. "I think there's going to be a real buzz tonight and however long it takes for this to happen. It's something that we all started talking about last year, I think a little bit . . . And here we are . . . We're going to try to wrap this up this weekend. That's the bottom line."

Jeter's quest for 3,000 helped to overshadow a rough outing by Bartolo Colon (6-4). Colon allowed a home run, a triple, a double, three singles and two walks in the first three innings, but helped by two double-play balls, he escaped the third trailing only 3-0. He allowed five runs, 10 hits and four walks in 52/3 innings. Said Joe Girardi, "He didn't seem to have the movement that he had or the command. It seemed he was up as well. That's a combination you don't want to have. He just wasn't sharp tonight.''

Hector Noesi finished with 31/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk and striking out four.

In the first six innings, Ben Zobrist homered, tripled, singled and walked and B.J. Upton had a two-run homer and an RBI single against Colon. Evan Longoria, Casey Kotchman and Reid Brignac also had two hits each for the Rays, who had 12.

Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fourth and hit his 15th homer to make it 5-1 in the sixth. The Yankees, who lost for the fourth time in five games, fell a half-game behind Boston and lead the Rays by three games.

After Zobrist tripled and scored on Longoria's single in the top of the first, the Yankees threatened twice early but couldn't tie it. After Jeter's leadoff double, they put runners on first and third with one out in the first, but Alex Rodriguez struck out and Cano grounded out. Russell Martin's double off the top of the rightfield wall put runners on second and third with one out in the second, but Gardner fouled out on a pitch out of the strike zone and Jeter grounded out.