Derek Jeter returns to Yankees, gets injured

Ted Berg | USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK -- In his first game at Yankee Stadium since breaking his ankle in the 2012 playoffs, Derek Jeter singled in his first at-bat. He also didn't hit the ball out of the infield and ultimately needed a pinch-hitter after he suffered a thigh muscle injury.

The New York Yankees captain's season debut Thursday — he also drove in and scored a run in an 8-4 victory against the Kansas City Royals — was somewhat of a microcosm of the team's season, one in which aging, accomplished players have been slowed by injury while offering occasional rays of hope.

"We're all getting older here," said Jeter, 39. "Age doesn't creep into my mind when I'm playing.

"Maybe in the mornings, but not while I'm playing."

Jeter will spend part of Friday morning in an MRI tube to make sure his right quadriceps muscle was not significantly injured. He claimed not to be concerned — "They MRI everything around here," he said — but for the Yankees, worst-case scenarios have been the norm.

"It's kind of what we've went through this year," said manager Joe Girardi, whose team has missed Jeter, third baseman Alex Rodriguez, center fielder Curtis Granderson and first baseman Mark Teixeira for most of the season because of injuries. "Hopefully it's nothing."

Yankees shortstops hit .211 with a .269 on-base percentage in Jeter's absence, and the club entered Thursday as one of the weakest-hitting teams in the majors.

But though the captain's steady bat undoubtedly will help his club, it remains to be seen how much Jeter can contribute in the field. Although Jeter was never a rangy defender, his ability to chase down grounders might be further limited by his injury. He served as the DH on Thursday but said he was not concerned about his ankle, which suffered a second break during spring training.

"It never crosses my mind," he said. "Now I'm ready to go again. So I can't sit around and think about what may happen."