Yankees’ Rodriguez remains stuck on 599

July 26, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Alex Rodriguez came to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth inning Sunday, wanting to do something special for the thousands of people who waited out a lengthy rain delay to see him hit home run No. 600.

Blake Wood had no intention of being a footnote in history.

After getting ahead of A-Rod in the count, the Royals reliever threw a pitch high and tight that deflected of the New York slugger’s left hand and put him down in a heap. For a moment, the outcome of the Yankees’ 12-6 victory over Kansas City hardly seemed to matter.

“It was a scary moment,” said manager Joe Girardi, who came sprinting out of the Yankees’ dugout to check on his star third baseman. “He’s such a big part of our club.”

Rodriguez said after the game that he was fine, and he expects to be in the lineup when he takes the pursuit of his next milestone home run on the road.

The Yankees play four games in Cleveland beginning tonight, then three more at Tampa Bay before returning home on Aug. 2.

Rodriguez was still a bit shaken by the close call Sunday, though, showing off a bruise that was already forming on his hand while standing in front of his locker.

“I have pretty much full strength, so I should be OK,” he said. “I was more fearful of the ball coming toward my face. Obviously, the hand is so sensitive, and it’s very easy to break a bone or chip a bone, so I’m just thankful that didn’t happen.”

Wood said he wasn’t trying to hit A-Rod, who cracked homer No. 599 in the series opener.

“It was just a ball that got away. It could have happened to anybody,” Wood said. “I’ve made some bad pitches, there’s no doubt about that. The results haven’t been good.”

Rodriguez wound up driving in three runs for the Yankees, while Curtis Granderson hit a pair of homers before a rain delay of 2 hours, 32 minutes ruined any sense of rhythm in the game.

Robinson Cano drove in a pair of runs with two hits, giving him 1,000 for his career, while Derek Jeter added three hits and an RBI as the Yankees won for the 14th time in 18 games.

Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner also drove in runs.