Below The Beltway

The Yankees won their 103rd game of the season and Alex Rodriguez hit his 580th and 581st home runs in the same inning:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Before batting practice at Tropicana Field on Sunday, Alex Rodriguez explained a reason for his success this season. When he missed the first five weeks after hip surgery, Rodriguez said, he realized he could not compile his usual dazzling statistics. It sharpened his focus on the everyday.

A few hours later, though, an improbable circumstance intruded. It was the sixth inning of the Yankees’ eventual 10-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays, and Rodriguez was down to what he figured was his last at-bat. He needed two homers and seven runs batted in to reach 30 and 100 for the 13th time.

“I just didn’t think it was realistic at all, so therefore it wasn’t even a goal,” Rodriguez said. “I kind of had conceded that.”

Rodriguez had agreed to more days off recently, allowing his hip to rest before the playoffs. But when he drove a ball to the left-field seats with two on in the sixth, he suddenly had 29 homers and 96 R.B.I.

“I may have one shot,” Rodriguez said he told his teammate Eric Hinske. “We load the bases, I might pop one, you never know.”

Rodriguez was only joking, but the chance came around. Later that inning, with two outs and two on, Andy Sonnanstine intentionally walked Mark Teixeira, who was tied with the Rays’ Carlos Pena for the American League home run lead, at 39. Rodriguez promptly smoked a grand slam to right-center, and raised his fist as he rounded first base.

The home run established two records for Rodriguez. He is the first player to have 13 seasons of 30 homers and 100 R.B.I. And he is the first A.L. player to drive in seven runs in an inning. Fernando Tatis holds the major league mark with two grand slams in an inning for St. Louis in 1999.

It also provided symmetry to Rodriguez’s regular season. He homered with his first swing in Baltimore on May 8, and did it again with his last swing.

Here’s the video: