Jeter passes Babe Ruth in hits as Yankees beat Red Sox
Another hit, another record for New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter. This time, the shortstop passed Babe Ruth in career hits as the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Sunday night.
Jeter collected his 2874th hit in the second inning, hitting an RBI single against Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, receiving a standing ovation from the New York crowd. Jeter wasn’t even aware of the feat until a few days ago.
"It's not like it was a goal of mine because I was unaware of it but it feels good once you accomplish it.
"Obviously Babe Ruth means a lot to baseball, especially to this organisation, so anytime you get a chance to pass him in anything it's special," said Jeter.
But it was the performance of pitcher Dustin Moseley, who was called in to fill-in for the injured AJ Burnett, which Jeter wanted to talk about. The 28-year-old threw 6 1/3 strong innings allowing two runs on six hits whilst striking out five batters.
"He throws a lot of strikes, works quick. He's going to make you hit his pitch and he's not going to walk too many guys. He challenges guys. He knows how to pitch. He hits his spots,” Jeter said.
Jeter wasn’t the only player to make history on Sunday. Mark Teixeira hit his 25th home run of the season becoming just the fourth player in history to hit 25 home runs in each of their first eight seasons in the majors. Teixeira trails Eddie Mathews with 11, Albert Pujols 10 and Darryl Strawberry on nine.
Alex Rodriguez also set a record of his own becoming the 10th player with 1,500 runs, 2,500 hits, 200 HRs and 300 stolen bases.
More importantly for the Yankees was the win against their biggest rival. The win moves the Yankees seven games ahead of Boston and after pounding Beckett for all seven runs and 11 hits in just 4 2/3 innings. The Red Sox pitcher admitted he didn’t have his best stuff after the game.
"I just thought I threw too many balls over the fat part of the plate. The ball was finding the barrels,” Beckett said.
Both teams will play again on Monday to finish a four-game set with Jon Lester taking the mound for Boston and Phil Hughes for New York.
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