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Obviously Derek Jeter hit a walk-off single in his final home game at Yankee Stadium

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

NEW YORK — Obviously. Obviously.

When the Yankees entered the top of the ninth inning with a 5-2 lead in Derek Jeter’s final game in pinstripes, some expected manager Joe Girardi to send in a defensive replacement to give Jeter a chance for a final ovation from the sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd.

But Orioles sluggers Adam Jones and Steve Pearce homered in the top of the ninth to tie the game, and Jeter stayed in the game, due up third in the bottom half of the frame. And after leadoff man Jose Pirela singled to start the inning, there’s was practically no doubt how it would end.

Derek Jeter drove in the game-winning run with a walk-off single in his final game at Yankee Stadium. Again: Derek Jeter drove in the game-winning run with a walk-off single in his final game at Yankee Stadium.

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The art of fiction is dead. Reality has strangled invention.

The crowd treated Jeter to familiar “DE-REK JE-TER” chants throughout the game that escalated in the final three innings. But none of them compared to the reception he got when he hit a walk-off single in his final game at Yankee Stadium.

With his current and former teammates on hand, Jeter got a Gatorade shower during an on-field post-game interview. Then the Yankee Stadium P.A. played Frank Sinatra’s My Way and the crowd cheered Jeter as he walked around the infield one last time, hugging his parents and former manager Joe Torre before exiting into the clubhouse. That all happened.

Throughout his 20-season, Hall of Fame career, Jeter earned a reputation for coming through in big spots. And so he ended his tenure in Yankees pinstripes true to form.

Obviously.

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