CLEVELAND — Only in the Yankees’ universe can soreness in one future Hall of Famer’s right arm smother the return of another from the disabled list who was resuming his chase of baseball history.
On the night the Yankees welcomed back Derek Jeter from a strained calf muscle, they didn’t have Mariano Rivera (triceps) available against the Indians at Progressive Field.
The latter turned out to be more of a problem than Jeter re-introducing himself to big league pitching after missing three weeks.
Had Rivera been available — he wasn’t — manager Joe Girardi likely wouldn’t have let A.J. Burnett face Austin Kearns in the seventh inning with the Yankees leading by a run and two runners on base.
“Maybe I make a change,” said Girardi, who didn’t have Luis Ayala (three of four days) and had to hold David Robertson back in case he needed a closer.
So, Burnett faced Kearns and watched the former Yankee — the Indians’ ninth-place hitter — swat a fastball away over the right-field fence for a three-run, opposite-field home run that fueled a 6-3 Indians victory in front of 40,676.
The Yankees’ second straight loss didn’t cost them ground in the AL East, because the second-place Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays. The Yankees’ lead is 11/2 lengths.
Jeter went 0-for-4, reaching on a first-inning error, flying to center, grounding to third and lining to short.
“No problems. I ran a couple of times and no issues,” Jeter said. “As the game went on I felt a lot better.”
Jeter remains six hits shy of becoming the first Yankee with 3,000 hits and just the 28th player to reach that historic milestone.
With two more games at Progressive Field, it’s a good bet Jeter won’t reach 3,000 before the Yankees open a four-game series against the Rays on Thursday in The Bronx.
Jeter fielded one ground ball and turned it into an out and took a throw at second from Russell Martin to erase Asdrubal Cabrera attempting to advance on a ball that bounced away from the catcher.
Thanks to blinding shadows, neither team did much hitting across the first six frames. Josh Tomlin (10-4), who was spanked by the Yankees on June 12 at Yankee Stadium, didn’t give up a hit until Mark Teixeira opened the seventh with a single to center. Nick Swisher gave Burnett a 2-0 lead with a two-run double to left center.
Watching Burnett (8-7) blank the Indians through six, there were no signs he was going to get hurt in the seventh. However, a one-out walk to Grady Sizemore and a two-out pass to Lonnie Chisenhall bit the right-hander.
Former Yankee Shelley Duncan dumped a 2-2 fastball off the plate into right field to drive in Sizemore. Kearns, who didn’t contribute much last year as a Yankee, stroked a 1-0 pitch for the game-winning homer.
After Curtis Granderson homered in the eighth to cut the deficit to 4-3, Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer into the left-field seats for a 6-3 cushion.
Just as things might have been different if Girardi wasn’t handcuffed in the pen, had Alex Rodriguez been able to catch Duncan’s foul pop during his critical at-bat, the outcome may have been altered. Rodriguez and left fielder Brett Gardner came close to gloving the foul, but neither got leather on it.
“If I get a better jump maybe I make that play,” Rodriguez said. “The bottom line, I have to catch the ball or get a better jump on it. For [Burnett] to lose the game is not good.”
Nor, for the Yankees, is the feeling of not having Rivera.
george.king@nypost.com