Yankees' September call-ups will play if opportunity arises

Reinforcements arrived yesterday in the form of five September call-ups, but the young group isn't in the Bronx for on-the-job training.

"Now's not the time to audition because we're fighting to get in the playoffs," Joe Girardi said. "I'm going to use them if there's an opportunity, but not to say, 'Let's just see what he does in this situation.' "

The player most likely to help the Yankees is righthander Preston Claiborne, who spent much of the year with the club and will rejoin the team Monday.

The others brought up from the minors: righthanders Dellin Betances and Brett Marshall, lefthander Cesar Cabral, catcher J.R. Murphy and infielder David Adams. Marshall, Adams and Betances had stints in the majors earlier in the season. Cabral and Murphy hope to make their major-league debuts this month.

Cabral, a Rule 5 selection two years ago, was all but certain to make the club out of spring training in 2012 before suffering a fractured left elbow with about a week to go in camp. "It's so exciting because I've been waiting for this for too much time," he said.

The highly regarded Murphy hit .269 with a .347 OBP, 12 homers and 46 RBIs in 108 games with Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

"Defensively, I've made a lot of improvements," said Murphy, the club's second-round pick in 2009. "I think consistency is the biggest thing, obviously, at this level. That's what separates guys from this level to the minor leagues. Offensively, it's a grind, an up-and-down roller coaster, but defense is most important, and that's my main focus."

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Pivotal playThe Yankees turned an unusual 6-5-3 double play in the sixth. With the infield overshifted to the right, Chris Davis hit a hard grounder to shortstop Eduardo Nuñez, playing where Robinson Cano normally would be. Nuñez flipped to second and the relay to first was in time to get Davis, with Mark Reynolds picking the ball out of the dirt.

And oh, by the way -- making the pivot was none other than third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who gracefully eluded the sliding Adam Jones and looked like the shortstop he used to be before joining the Yankees in 2004. He wore a big smile afterward.

Another Jeter milestoneDerek Jeter's sacrifice fly in the fourth gave him 1,258 RBIs, moving him past former teammate Bernie Williams into sixth on the franchise's all-time list. Jeter went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is hitting .167 with a .234 OBP in 11 games.