As best as Alex Rodriguez could recall, the last time he had been pinch-hit for in a meaningful situation during a baseball game, he was a teenager in high school.

And he was not entirely sure that had happened.

But Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, with the Yankees staring at defeat and facing a 2-1 deficit in their best-of-five American League division series with Baltimore, Rodriguez saw Yankees Manager Joe Girardi heading his way. It was the ninth inning, the Yankees were trailing by a run, and Rodriguez had gone 0 for 3 in the game, with two strikeouts.

Girardi, proving that major league managers do not always play it safe in the playoffs, told Rodriguez he was not going to get a chance to play hero Wednesday. And he wasn’t going to get another opportunity to disappoint Yankees fans in the postseason either.

Girardi made the gutsy move of sending Raul Ibanez to the plate for Rodriguez, and Ibanez tied the game, 2-2, with a home run to right field. Rodriguez was the first Yankee to greet Ibanez at the top step of the dugout after he rounded the bases.