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Royals spoil Jeter's day by blanking Yanks

Sep 8, 2014 - 4:36 AM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Derek Jeter's day at Yankee Stadium turned out to be a dud, at least for the New York offense.

Jeter was 1-for-3 with a walk on the day the Yankees celebrated the retiring shortstop's stellar career, but the Kansas City Royals spoiled it by scoring a pair of unearned runs in a 2-0 victory on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Yordano Ventura and three relievers combined on a four-hit shutout for the Royals, who won Friday's opener by a 1-0 score with an unearned run. Ventura (12-9) limited the Yankees to three singles and walked four with two strikeouts to win his third straight start.

Eric Hosmer drove in a run for Kansas City, which will head to Detroit for the start of a key three-game series on Monday. The Royals own a two-game lead over the Tigers atop the AL Central.

"We're playing great baseball," said Royals manager Ned Yost. "We're pitching, we're playing defense and we're scoring runs to win ball games. That's all that matters."

The Yankees, meanwhile, fell to 3-3 on a nine-game homestand that they hoped would help them vault back into the playoff race. New York will start a three- game set against Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

Former teammates, family members and special guests were in attendance for the nearly 45-minute tribute to Jeter before the game.

"I've had the greatest job in the world. I got to be the shortstop of the New York Yankees and there's only one of those," Jeter said in remarks to conclude the ceremony.

Among the former teammates in attendance were Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, David Cone, Hideki Matsui, Tino Martinez, Paul O'Neill and Mariano Rivera. Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and Cal Ripken Jr. were also on hand, as was basketball legend Michael Jordan. Former Yankees manager Joe Torre was also present. Torre had his No. 6 retired by the Yankees last month.

The Yankees presented a number of gifts, including a trip to Tuscany in Italy and a check of $222,222.22 from the Steinbrenner family for Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation -- the No. 2 of course representing his uniform number.

"The Yankees know how to put on a big ceremony," said Jeter after the game. "This is a day that I'll remember forever."

Jeter was cheered loudly throughout the ceremony and again when he came to bat in the bottom of the first. He reached on an infield single and advanced to second on an error, but Carlos Beltran flied out and Brian McCann grounded out to end the threat.

The Royals went in front thanks to a Yankee error in the second. Josh Willingham and Mike Moustakas started the inning with singles, but New York starter Shane Greene retired the next two batters and appeared to be out of the jam when Nori Aoki hit a tapper between first and home. Greene raced over to field the ball, but made an awful throw wide of first that resulted in an error and allowed Willingham to race home.

Another error allowed the Royals to score again in the third, as Beltran couldn't make a running catch on Alex Gordon's looping fly ball in right field to start the inning. Gordon stole second and scored on Hosmer's single into right field.

The Yankees put two on with two outs in the home third, but McCann flied out and New York managed only one hit and two walks over the next five innings. The walks were each followed by ground ball double plays.

Wade Davis again was called upon in the ninth with closer Greg Holland still battling a tight right triceps. Beltran led off with a single, but Davis set down the next three hitters -- two on strikeouts -- to collect his second save in three days.

Greene (4-3) took the loss over five innings, allowing the two unearned runs on five hits and three walks.

Game Notes

The Yankees were 0-for-17 with runners on base ... The Royals won four of the seven meetings this season and took the season series against the Yankees for the first time since 1999 ... Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner missed his second straight game with a lower abdominal strain.