Jeter leaves after pitch hits right foot

First-inning plunking followed by third-inning exit in Bronx

By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com

Derek Jeter took a Ricky Romero curveball off his right foot on Wednesday. (AP)

08/12/2009 8:10 PM ET

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NEW YORK -- When the Yankees boarded their flight to Seattle late Wednesday afternoon, they took with them a slew of injured players and no easy answers.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, both hit by pitches, are questionable for Thursday's series opener against the Mariners -- Rodriguez more uncertain than Jeter. Catcher Jorge Posada, who took a foul ball off his right hand and a series of other pitches off his body during Wednesday's 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, is also unsure whether he will play. And closer Mariano Rivera, who woke up Wednesday with a sore right shoulder, is similarly in question.

Just like that, the Yankees went from being remarkably healthy to quite incomplete, and they cannot be sure of the status of their wounded players until they wake up Thursday.

Jeter was the first to be injured, having taken a Ricky Romero curveball off his right foot in the first inning on Wednesday. Though he remained in the game and took another at-bat, Jeter did not run down the first-base line well on his fielder's-choice grounder, leaving the game before the Yankees took the field in the top of the third.

"I wasn't moving too good, so they decided to take me out," Jeter said.

"There is a concern that he'll be sore tomorrow," manager Joe Girardi said after the win.

X-rays taken on Jeter's right foot were negative, and Ramiro Pena took over for the Yankees' captain at shortstop.