Alex Rodriguez ends New York Yankees career on winning note
Last Updated: 13/08/16 8:20am
Alex Rodriguez ended his career with the New York Yankees on a winning note as he played his part in a 6-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
Thunder and lightning cut short a pre-game tribute and delayed the game by an hour, but the 41-year-old received repeated cheers from the sell-out crowd of 46,459 at Yankee Stadium and clapped his hands emphatically after getting an RBI double in the first inning.
But after the double, Rodriguez, baseball's most notorious star of the last two decades, went zero-for-three the rest of the night, displaying the batting struggles that led the Yankees to decide to release the former star in the middle of the MLB season.
After refusing Rodriguez's request to start at third base, manager Joe Girardi allowed him to make a cameo appearance in the ninth inning and he walked off the field to a standing ovation and embraces from team-mates.
Rodriguez's 1-for-4 night left him with a .200 average, nine homers and 31 RBIs in his 12th and final Yankees season.
He has 696 home runs, fourth on the career list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).
He said last Sunday he had accepted an offer to play one final home game before being officially released and then becoming a team adviser through 2017, tasked with mentoring young players.
"I put the fans through a lot. I disappointed a lot of people but this feels good," Rodriguez said after the game.
Starlin Castro had four RBIs for the Yankees, hitting a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the sixth off Archer (6-16) that gave CC Sabathia (7-9) his second win since mid-June. Dellin Betances got the save.
