Rod has RBI in Fenway finale, Yankees beat Red Sox 4-2

For his final game as a player for the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez thought it would be nice to start at third base, the position he’s played during most of his time in pinstripes.

Rodriguez told reporters at Fenway on Thursday that he was hoping to play third base in his finale at Yankee Stadium, but it won’t go down that way.

After sitting on the bench unused for much of the past month, Rodriguez was in the lineup as the designated hitter and batting third for his 2,784th and perhaps final regular-season game as a major league player in a career that started with Seattle in 1994, moved on to Texas in 2001 and then NY three years later.

By the time Alex Rodriguez collects his last payment as a player from the Yankees next year, he will have received $317,368,852 from NY, according to a review of his contracts by The Associated Press. “I totally get the answer”.

A day later, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Anthony Bosch, who ran a secret doping practice for pro athletes, including, he said, Rodriguez. “And then I will try to accommodate that the best I can”. “We added one of the game’s greatest players at a discounted price because there were considerable offsets of salary, and we got a lot of production from him for quite some time”.

“Anything that I do”, he said, “I would clear with Hal first”.

Rodriguez was very clear not to use the word “retire” when addressing his future, and he won’t yet concede that he’s playing his final Major League Baseball game. Some of that is him being a good soldier but he says things that I feel are genuine. “I thought it would have been fun”. Next year I’ll still watch the Yankees, but there will be noone on that roster to make me overly excited to go to the ballpark.

Rodriguez, who sits four home runs shy of 700 for his career, has generated no shortage of headlines over the years – from his admitted steroid use to his suspension for the entire 2014 season to his incredible feats. Brad Ziegler (0-3) got the loss.

“It’s been very hard, ” Rodriguez said.

“He’s one of the smartest baseball players ever”, Hofman said.

“He just hit it in a spot where we couldn’t do anything about the guy at third”, Ziegler said. With his impending release, this was the time for the New York Yankees to celebrate his career and give him a bit of playing time.

Yankees: RHP Nathan Eovaldi had an MRI on his pitching elbow and was evaluated by team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad.

Red Sox: OF Mookie Betts was out of the starting lineup after leaving Wednesday night’s game early with tightness in his right calf. Manager John Farrell said Betts’ calf was still sore and he needed a night off. RHP Chris Archer (6-15, 4.26) is scheduled to start for the Rays.

In Cleveland, Mike Napoli was 4-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs, Lonnie Chisenhall drove in four runs and the Indians routed Los Angeles in game delayed by rain in the fourth and seventh innings. LHP Patrick Corbin (4-11, 5.37) starts for the Diamondbacks.